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Kai Mo of Northwood gets ready to slide in for the go-ahead run in the ninth inning as University catcher Luke Emrich waits for the throw. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Northwood High School’s baseball team fought off a tough challenge from University but emerged Friday with a 2-0 nine-inning victory over the Trojans in a pitcher’s duel at Uni to remain tied for first place in the Pacific Coast League with Beckman.
The Timberwolves (13-5-1, 11-3-1) are 3-0-1 in extra innings this season.
“We’re the best in the business in extra innings,” said Northwood Coach Josh Keithly. “We just keep plugging away and passing the torch and that’s what we do. We keep it even keel and eventually we got the W, it doesn’t matter, we still got it.”
Northwood starter Paul Grossman (5-1) got the win after pitching the first eight innings, striking out 11 and allowing four hits on a cool, cloudy day. Grossman did not walk a batter but hit two.
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Grossman reached the 110 pitch limit in the ninth inning after a base hit by Cooper Berger and was relieved by Andres Hernandez. Hernandez retired the final three batters, two on strikeouts to earn the save and help Northwood take two of three from University.
“He pitched his butt off,” Keithly said of Grossman. “He kept us in the game, he’s tough to hit, the last inning he was a little tired and he wanted it. Paul did a heck of a job today, he was a big part of the win.”
University starter Austen Barnett was also outstanding, throwing eight scoreless innings before Northwood scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning. Barnett allowed two runs and six hits and struck out five in 8 1/3 innings.
In the top of the ninth, Kai Mo led off with a single for Northwood, Grossman walked and with one out Carter Liu delivered an RBI single down the left field line.
“He had a good approach and he stuck to it,” Keithly said. “Good results happen when you stick to your approach. He was due for a nice knock and we were due after hitting balls hard all day.”
Casey Euper accounted for the second run with a sacrifice fly off of reliever Brennan Collins to make it 2-0.
University (9-12, 6-9) had scoring chances in the second, third and fifth innings but could not score. In the fifth, Luke Emrich and Rivin Ruhanage singled and advanced a base on a wild pitch. But Grossman struck out Luke Weston to end the threat and was in command for the next three innings.
“We needed that one, close game, our bats weren’t there for the first few innings but we got it done when we needed it, and I’m really proud of this team,” said Grossman. “It was the longest game I’ve ever thrown, I just wanted to compete and get a win.
“The adrenaline is there right now, so the arm is feeling pretty good. We need to take care of business and keep playing the way we do. If we keep playing the way we do, we have a good shot.”
Liu was thrilled to knock home the go-ahead run.
“It felt good, our team was putting the bat on the ball pretty well today, I felt the lead-off single by Kai was big, I felt that got the team going pretty well and it passed the torch down within our line-up in a good ways,” said Liu. “I feel like our team is on a roll, our pitching and defense has been astounding and our hitting has been getting back up there and if we can keep that up we can be in a pretty good spot to win league.”
Barnett wound up as the tough-look losing pitcher despite a strong outing.
“Both sides had great pitching, bats couldn’t really do anything, but then they got one, we couldn’t get anything going either, they shut us down at the end, great game, but we came out with a loss,” he said.
“I would say I did pretty well on the mound, at the plate, I could have done more for my team but I think I gave my team the best possible chance that I could.”
Northwood meets Sage Hill while University meets Laguna Hills in three-game PCL series next week.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
