ALEXANDRIA — Plenty of dominant pitching and just enough offense has keyed the Pendleton Heights Arabians in their run to the Madison County baseball championship game tonight.
In the opener at Elwood, Chayce McDermott got the ball to start the game. Other than one shaky inning in his first start of the season, the Ball State University-bound senior has been nothing short of excellent this season, and Wednesday against the Panthers was no exception.
McDermott worked six innings of hitless ball — allowing just one walk, while striking out 10 — as the Arabians advanced with a 4-1 win against Elwood.
One other base runner reached on an error as McDermott faced just two over the minimum in picking up his third consecutive win. He is now 3-1 on the season with a 1.79 earned-run average with 32 strikeouts in 15.2 innings pitched and six walks. Five of those walks were issued in his season opening loss to New Castle.
Offensively, Evan Douglas had two hits, including a double, with an RBI and a run scored, while Phil Lawson, Rene Casas and McDermott each drove in a run each to account for the Arabian offense.
With the win, the Arabians advanced to the tournament semifinals in Alexandria Thursday. This time it was senior Eston Stull’s turn to take the hill, and the results were very similar.
Stull pitched five innings — allowing just two unearned runs on two hits while striking out eight — and the bullpen held off a late Tiger rally as Pendleton Heights edged Alexandria-Monroe 5-4 and will play for a second straight county championship today.
The opponent is Lapel, and the two teams will face off at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field in Anderson.
Stull, who has not allowed an earned run this season, handed the ball off to the bullpen with a 3-2 lead. The Arabians added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, which proved to be crucial as the Tigers scored twice in the bottom half on singles by Ryan Luzader and Isaac Granger to pull within one. But senior Corbin Cox came on in relief to retire the last three batters, including one by strikeout, to preserve the win for Stull and the Arabians.
Lawson and Casas each doubled and drove in two runs for Pendleton Heights (6-1), while Matt Vetor added two hits and an RBI.
