By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – If all the hotel rooms in town have been reserved for the next three weeks, it’s probably someone from New Albany.
Bedford North Lawrence will be seeing a lot of the Bulldogs in coming days. If the future battles are anything like the first of the potential three-game set, the visitors better lock down an extended stay. They’re going to need the rest.
New Albany won the opener on Monday night, finally pulling out a tense 9-8 victory in nine innings. Jaylen Wells-Henderson and Andrew Ciszewski clubbed home runs, and Grayson Gobert ripped a vicious two-run single for the go-ahead runs in the ninth. Those loud shots were just enough to silence the Stars, who did not go quietly into the long night.
So expect more fireworks when New Albany (12-6) returns to BNL for the first round of the Hoosier Hills Conference tournament next week. Expect another classic (extra innings is not instant) if there’s a third round when BNL hosts the IHSAA sectional at the end of the month. If both win their first-round clashes in the postseason, they’ll meet again in a sectional semifinal.
“I’m still processing this one,” New Albany coach Tim Redford said. “That was a heck of a game.”
There was a lot to process. BNL scored three in the first and later owned a 5-2 advantage. The Bulldogs came back with four runs in the sixth, which set the back-and-forth pendulum swings in motion.
BNL (7-7) had plenty of stars, with Cutler Chastain blasting a tying homer in the sixth, with Chastain and catcher Cam Gates combining to cut down a gutsy steal attempt at the plate in the eighth inning, with Jaden Gilbert igniting a response in the bottom of the ninth. Gilbert got stranded at third when the final out was recorded, else the game might still be going.
“There were about 50 different plays in this game that made a difference,” BNL coach Steven McNabb said. “We just fell on the wrong end of it.”
How many of the 50 ways to leave a loss did the Stars and Bulldogs discover? They slipped out the back, made a new plan, set themselves free without being coy, hopped on the bus and dropped off the key.
In the first, Chastain drilled a RBI single and Gilbert lashed a two-run double. Gilbert gouged another RBI double in the second, and Cam Gates manufactured a run in the fourth with a single, a stolen base, a balk and a wild pitch for the 5-2 lead.
Then came the first of the big blows. With two outs and two strikes, Ciszewski crushed a three-run homer to left for a 7-5 lead in the New Albany sixth. BNL answered immediately as Gates singled, took off for second on a wild pitch and wheeled for third when New Albany’s catcher was slow to retrieve the loose ball. Gates made it to third as the throw went down the left-field line, allowing Gates to scamper home. Two pitches later, Chastain hammered a home run to right for a 7-7 deadlock.
Chastain then came in to pitch, and he danced around constant trouble. New Albany had two runners on in the seventh, got runners to second and third in the eighth. That’s when Redford rolled the dice and had Ciszewski attempt to steal home, but Chastain fired to Gates at the plate to cut him down. Finally, with the bases loaded by three straight two-out walks, Gobert came through with a sizzling single to center for two runs.
“In the big innings, it goes back to walks and errors,” McNabb said. “Cutler knows you can’t walk the bases loaded. We talked about getting three outs on time, and that didn’t happen. But I’m proud of the way we battled. And we had a chance to win, at multiple times.“
Gobert had three hits and five RBIs. Wells-Henderson launched one of the longest home runs in the history of ballpark when he hammered a ball (down wind and down range) over the scoreboard in left-center. It landed on the pavement near the school building and caromed into the parking lot near the gymnasium. Ciszewski had two hits and drove in three runs. Grady Mayfield, a freshman hurler, earned the win with 3 2/3 innings of relief work, allowing only one hit.
“Chastain is one of the best pitchers in this area, if not the state,” Redford said. “We were fortunate enough to get to him.
”Two-out hits are huge. A lot of times, whoever has the most two-out RBIs typically has the best chance to win. Chastain is hard to hit, so when you get a chance to barrel one of his fastballs, it’s huge. We knew it would not be easy. It’s a conference game. We knew they would not go away.”
Gates was 4 for 4 and scored four runs, Gilbert had three hits, and Chastain collected two.
BNL will host Bloomington North on Tuesday.
