In addition to his job as assistant baseball coach at North Central, Greg Galuppi also operates the team’s Gamechanger site in which he plugs in each pitch, hit and play of the game.
After the Knights’ first two games this week, he may be due for a raise or, at least getting some ice for his weary fingers.
Following Monday’s 16-15, 10-inning win at Lee Central, the Knights extended their win streak to two games by outlasting visiting Lewisville, 18-15, on Wednesday.
The two Region 4-AA wins gave Brandon Faulkenberry’s squad a 2-3 conference record and a 2-4 overall ledger.
In Wednesday’s game, the Knights did all their damage in two frames; scoring nine times each in the second and fourth innings.
In the second, NC used two hits, three walks and two hits batsmen to score its runs. Two innings later, the hosts pushed their nine runs across the plate with just two hits. Lions’ pitching contributed six walks and a hit batter toward the uprising.
The Knights collected nine hits, 10 walks and were hit on three occasions in the three-run victory. Christian Bowers led the winners with two hits while driving in a pair of runs.
Lewisville jumped to a quick 5-0 lead, scoring two in the first and adding three in the second before the Knights hung up their first nine-spot.
It was Cody Faulkenberry who opened things in the second by getting hit by a pitch. Consecutive walks to Brandon Bowers, Christian Bowers and Tanner Stephens followed. A Jordan Hayes single drove in the second and third runs before Tyler Faulkenberry’s single and an error on the play brought two more runs across.
A Brandon Bowers double drove in the eighth run before Christian Bowers made it 9-5 with an RBI single.
The Lions pushed across five runs in the fourth to lead, 12-9.
In the bottom half of the fourth, NC scored nine runs, again, while sending 13 batters to the plate.
Christian Bowers drove in one run with a double accounting for the lone run which did not come from either a walk (four), an error (three) or wild pitch (one).
Lewisville made it interesting by scoring three times in a top of the seventh in which they put three runners on base.
Carson Coates earned the mound win with 4.2 innings of relief work in a game started by Austin Bowers.
In the contest, the two sides combined for 33 runs --- 25 earned ---, struck out 14 times, walked 20 times while commiting eight errors.
Each team’s pitching staff delivered exactly 175 pitches to the plate.
Against Lee Central, the Knights scored the winning run on a two-out error in the top of the 10th to leave Bishopville with the win.
With two gone in the 10th, Tyler Faulkenberry singled to left and later stole third. An error on a Christian Bowers ground ball drove Faulkenberry home with the winning run.
The host Stallions had runners on first and second in the home portion of the 10th only for Coates, who started the ninth inning, getting a pop fly to the catcher and a ground out to end the marathon contest.
The Knights opened the game by scoring six runs on two hits while taking advantage of three walks, a hit batter and a dropped third strike in the first.
Taner Stephens brought home the second and third runs with a single to left.
After Lee Central cut the lead in half with three runs in the bottom of the first, the Knights added two more runs in the second to go on top, 8-3.
The first run came when Tyler Faulkenberry, who reached on an error, stole home on a double steal. Christian Bowers, who singled and swiped second, scored on Hayes’ sac fly to left.
NC tacked on six more runs in the fourth to lead, 14-3.
Hayes delivered an RBI single in the rally while a Bailey Catoe single knocked in two more runs. Austin Bowers and Tyler Faulkenberry each added run-scoring singles in the inning.
LC closed the gap to 14-9 by scoring six runs in the bottom of the fourth before outscoring the Knights, 6-1, in the fifth and sixth frames top even things at 15.
Neither side was able to dent the scoreboard in the seventh through ninth innings. That all changed in the 10th frame.
North Central collected a season-high 13 hits in the win with Stephens having a 3-for-3 night with a pair of RBI. Tyler Faulkenberry had three hits in seven trips to the plate while Christian Bowers had a two-hit night.
Coates earned the first of his two wins of the week with two innings of hitless relief work in which he fanned one batter while walking one.
Lee Central collcted nine hits off Knights’ pitching.
The numbers, as they would be two nights later in Boonetown were massive. The two sides combined to score 31 runs on 28 hits, drew 17 walks while striking out 23 times.
In the field, the Knights had a dozen errors while Lee Central had eight miscues.
North Central is in the midsct of a three-game homestand which continues tonight with Buford coming to Boonetown for a 7 p.m. conference game. Next Tuesday, rival Andrew Jackson comes to town for a 6 p.m. game.
