After his team beat Niles, 10-7, in the opener of a doubleheader, Edwardsburg baseball coach A.J. Gaideski didn’t expect a pitcher’s duel in game two.

Gaideski was wrong as the Vikings edged the Eddies, 2-1, to gain a split.

In game two, Niles starting pitcher Tyler Clutter outdueled the Edwardsburg’s Derek Pierce. Clutter allowed no earned runs, six hits and struck out eight. Pierce gave up one earned run and five hits over six innings.

“He threw strikes,” said Niles coach about Clutter. “That’s been his best game this year. We’ve been working for about three weeks on some mechanical stuff, not saying it’s there yet, but it’s getting better. He’s been able to repeat his delivery. He’s been working hard at repeating his delivery, therefore he’s throwing more strikes. He did a good job.”

It was the first start of the year for Pierce.

“He just did a great job,” said Gaideski about Pierce. “He threw strikes and our defense played well for the most part.”

Clutter got out of a big jam in the fourth inning. The junior lefty allowed only one unearned run after Edwardsburg loaded the bases with no outs.

“That hurt us bad, getting just one run,” Gaideski said.

The game-winning hit was delivered by Niles’ Chris Mangus in the fifth inning. With two outs, Tate Brawley singled and stole second. Mangus then drove in Brawley with a double.

“Chris has been our guy all year,” Vota said. “He’s hitting in the third spot and batting about .475 or .480. He’s our RBI guy and he responds and that’s the difference between a junior year and senior year. He has the confidence to do it and he did it again tonight.”

In the first game, Niles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning with four of the first five Niles hitters reaching base on hits. Brawley and Mangus each had an RBI double, while Mitchell Dehn had an RBI single.

“We knew that they were a good hitting team,” Gaideski said. “I just told my pitcher (Keith Boeker) to go out there and throw strikes and see what happens. He did a pretty good job. Their balls found some gaps in the first inning. The rest of the game they didn’t find the gaps as much. He pitched a good game from there on out. He did a good job of moving the ball around and throwing strikes.”

Trailing 4-1, Edwardsburg had some productive at-bats in the fourth inning. The Eddies scored four runs on five hits to take a 5-4 lead. Jackson Gaideski had a two-run single and Dalton Raymond added a two-run double in the fourth for Edwardsburg.

A three-run seventh gave Edwardsburg a 10-5 lead.

Raymond and Gaideski each had two hits and two RBIs for the Eddies. Maris Marazita and Garret Bronkema each added two hits and an RBI.

“I was happy with the way we hit the ball in the first game,” Gaideski said. “We just got up there and moved the ball. We also got a little bit of speed so when we put the ball in play we’re in good shape.”

Niles got a two-run single from Taylor Weldy in the seventh to finish the game’s scoring.

Dehn collected two hits and two RBIs in game one for Niles, while Brawley and Mangus each added two hits and an RBI.

“We hit a lot of balls hard today,” Vota said.

Niles committed five errors in the opener, which led to five unearned runs for Edwardsburg.

“They put the ball in play and we didn’t make plays,” Vota said. “When you give a team, especially one that is athletic and can run, five or six outs in an inning, you’re in trouble.”

 

First game

Edwardsburg 010 420 3 – 10 11 3

Niles 301 010 2 – 7 11 5

Keith Boeker (W) and Brett Bowman; Tate Rudlaff (L), Chris Mangus (6) and Connor Glick

2B: Dalton Raymond (E), Garret Bronkema (E), Tate Brawley (N), Mangus (N), Glick (N)

 

Second game

Edwardsburg 000 100 0 – 1 6 1

Niles 100 010 x – 2 7 1

Derek Pierce (L), Michael Kempton (6) and Brett Bowman; Tyler Clutter (W) and Connor Glick

2B: Mangus (N)

 

Varsity records

Edwardsburg 10-7, Niles 12-8