By Ted Waddell
JEFFERSONVILLE — May 7, 2004 – On Tuesday afternoon at Lion’s Field, the home team hounds (a.k.a. Sullivan West Bulldogs baseball team) shut out James I. O’Neill, 4-0, in an OCIAA Division IV game.
In the bottom of the first, SW’s Joe Meyer led off with a single. When Lloyd Shaffer singled, Meyer, who had already stolen second base, then legged it to third.
With runners at first and third, Mike Barrett sacrificed to score Meyer.
In the third inning, O’Neill Coach Gabe O’Connell called a pitch to his catcher, who then relayed the message to pitcher Travis Judd.
Instead of challenging the Bulldogs’ leadoff batter with a change-up – a pitch that had SW hitters off balance most of the afternoon – Judd served up a fastball to Bill Nordenhold, who jumped on the 1-2 pitch for a solo homer. It was Nordenhold’s third home run of the season.
“I hardly hit the ball,” he said. “I hit a fastball on the sweet spot and it just went right over the fence.”
Following Nordenhold’s round tripper, Ryan Taylor walked and Matt Berger hit a double down the line. Taylor then scored on a sacrifice fly by Meyer.
To close out SW’s three-run third inning, Steve Daley’s RBI groundout to shortstop sent Berger across the plate to end the scoring.
“Good hitters take advantage of mistakes,” said SW Coach Kurt Scheibe, commenting on Nordenhold’s home run and an O’Neill batter taking advantage of a momentary lapse of concentration by Taylor – a pitch which saw the batter single to reach base.
Taylor picked up the win on the mound for the Bulldogs. He recorded 11 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in shutting down the O’Neill offense.
Judd went the distance for O’Neill (5-4, 2-1 OCIAA).
With the victory, SW improved to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in OCIAA Division IV competition.
Note: The Bulldogs were scheduled to play at O’Neill yesterday afternoon. On Monday, SW is slated to travel to Liberty for another OCIAA Division IV game.