RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
DECATUR – The Norwell baseball machine ran with impressive efficiency Thursday night at Bellmont, taking less than 90 minutes to defeat the Braves 10-0 in five innings in an NE8 matchup.
Senior pitcher Lleyton Bailey crafted a masterpiece, allowing only two Bellmont baserunners and retiring the last 10 batters he faced. He gave up two singles—both in the second inning— walked none, and threw only 59 pitches.
“He did a great job,” said Norwell coach Dave Goodmiller. “He stayed ahead of hitters for the most part. We always talk about getting the leadoff batter each inning, and he did a great job with that. He’s around the plate all the time, makes them swing.”
He got them to swing and miss a lot too, striking out seven Braves. He never went to a three-ball count and had two balls on a hitter only five times.
When Bailey wasn’t striking out hitters, he relied on the flawless Knight defense to take care of business. Of the eight outs that weren’t on strikeouts, seven came on ground balls, including a slick 6-4-3 double play in the second inning that erased Eli Laurent, who had led off with a line drive single up the middle. Austin Christener followed the double play with the Braves’ only other hit, a single to left, but Bailey struck out Daniel Vogel to strand Christener’s courtesy runner, Jordan Haines.
The Norwell offense also wasted no time, striking for three first-inning runs against Bellmont starter Aidan Zimmerman. Knight leadoff hitter Drew Graft hit a single to right field and moved to second on Luke Graft’s ground out. Brody Bolyn lined out to third for the second out, but then Bailey’s liner went off the top of first baseman Dylan Velez’s glove, allowing Graft to scamper home. Designated hitter Curtis Ellis followed with a single to left to advance Bailey to second.
With third baseman Cale Mallery at bat, the Knights pulled a double steal, and when Bellmont catcher Beau Baker threw wildly to third, Bailey scored, with Ellis cruising to third. After Mallery walked, Trey Bodenheimer beat out a slow roller to short, Ellis scoring on the play to make it 3-0.
The Knights put up three more runs in the second. With one out, Drew Graft singled for the second time, advanced to second on a balk, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Luke Graft’s infield single. After Zimmerman walked Bolyn, Bellmont coach Tom Montgomery brought Christener to the mound. He struck out Bailey, but a double steal and Ellis’s second single of the game produced two runs to make it 6-0.
In the fourth, the Knights loaded the bases on three walks, and Mallery delivered a ground-rule double to center to drive home two runs. Bodenheimer’s sacrifice fly expanded the lead to 9-0.
In the fifth, a walk to Drew Graft, a single to left by Luke Graft, and a Bellmont throwing error on an attempted double play gave the Knights their tenth run.
The win lifts the Knights to 11-4, with a 2-0 record in the NE8. Bellmont falls to 2-5 and 0-2. The Braves will travel to Wayne for a doubleheader Saturday.