By Jake Thompson
CNHI
PLAINFIELD —
Plainfield baseball coach Jacob Allstott cycled through three pitchers in three innings trying to get a handle on the visiting Martinsville Artesians Tuesday night in the Quakers' season opener.
While that inconsistency from the mound hurt Plainfield to the tune of an 11-8 loss, Allstott recognized he would need his pitchers for this weekend's Hendricks County tournament and that also worked into the decision of switching out pitchers.
"We didn't come in and fill the zone with strikes but we gave them 16 bags and still held them to 11 runs," Plainfield coach Jacob Allstott said. "We have a potential for 21 innings this weekend in the county tournament so we have to have our big arms."
Quaker Cody Jones went 4-for-4 on the day with one home run, an RBI, and three singles to lead Plainfield.
"Cody knows what pitch he is looking for and he is one smart baseball player," Allstott said. "He knows the game, is patient and hits the ball hard."
After getting a quick out on Martinsville's lead off batter, Plainfield pitcher Daniel Wuensch gave up a deep double to left field and walked three batters in a row, giving the Artesians a 1-0 lead. Martinsville then added three more runs before Plainfield turned a double play to get out of the top of the first.
To make matters worse, Artesian pitcher Shawn Downey then struck out the first three Plainfield batters.
"It is important to get off to a good start," Martinsville coach Mike Swartzentruber said. "High school kids are fragile and it was important for us to start the year off on the right note."
Plainfield allowed only a double and no runs before beginning to put the bat on the ball in the bottom of the second. Jones had an RBI single and then Ryan Kellum scored from third on a wild pitch to pull within 4-2.
Wuensch gave up five walks that resulted in two more Artesian runs in the third before Allstott made a change to Tyler Schulze.
Martinsville's Kyle Williams hit a two RBI single to go up 8-2 before the Quakers could get to the bottom of the inning.
An error by the Artesian right fielder John Vondersaar allowed Shculze to score from second base for the Quakers' only run of the third.
After two walks from Schulze to begin the fourth, Allstott put Johnny Jay on the mound for Plainfield. Artesian Jeremy Diller scored from third as Jay's pitch went between catcher Cody Dell's legs and then a sacrifice fly made it 10-3 for Martinsville.
Jones led off with a home run to left field in the bottom of the fourth, pulling Plainfield to within six of Martinsville.
Diller hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put Martinsville up 11-4 in the fifth and Martinsville switched pitchers, bringing in Chris Geeser.
"The first week or two we put our pitchers on a pitch count," Swartzentruber said. "Geeser worked hard in the off season and we wanted to see what he could do. He was a little nervous, but he settled down that last inning."
The change helped Plainfield as Tyler Scott had an RBI single and then Jones scored on a wild pitch bringing the score to 11-6 in the bottom of the sixth. Dillon Hughes then hit a two run homer to pull within three of
Martinsville, but that's as close as the Quakers would get.
Plainfield travels to Martinsville today to finish off its conference double header with the Artesians then the Quakers host the Brownsburg Bulldogs at home on Friday, April 9 at 5:30 p.m. to kick off the county tournament.
