BLOOMINGTON – Bedford North Lawrence bounced back from a rough loss with a smooth win, completing a sweep of Monroe County opponents on the road with a 5-1 victory at Bloomington North during high school baseball action on Tuesday.
Tate Tanksley cracked a go-ahead, two-run double in the fifth inning, and four BNL pitchers combined to scatter four hits as the Stars (10-4) rebounded from a shutout loss at New Albany just 24 hours earlier.
“I challenged the guys to have a bounce-back game,” BNL coach Steven McNabb said. “The three prongs I asked them to do was have energy, compete and be selfless. At times last night, we were not those three things. They answered the bell, it was a team effort from top to bottom.”
Tanksley had the big hit, snapping a 1-1 deadlock with his two-out double for a 3-1 advantage.
“Tate has been an All-State catcher this year,” McNabb said. “Mentally and physically, he’s been the guy, and it’s been needed with a young team.”
The Stars trailed 1-0 when they pulled even in the fourth, with a run scoring while Lucas Ira bounced into a base-loaded double play. Following Tanksley’s clutch hit, BNL added two insurance runs in the seventh. With two outs and runners on the corners, the Stars pulled off a huge double steal as Jaden Gilbert scampered home while Cam Gates took off for second. Gates later scored on a wild pitch.
“Little things like that make baseball great,” McNabb said.
On the mound, Grady Dalton pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the win, and Cal Gates worked the final two innings, striking out four, for the save.
”Grady stepped up and gave us two big innings,” McNabb said. “He’s not thrown in a while, so to come out there and give us two zeroes has huge.”
Chris Barnett had two hits for the Cougars (8-6).
BNL will host North Daviess on Thursday.
