Senior George Antal was outstanding Thursday evening, striking out 11 en route to a 6-1 win for Norton (10-12) over St. Vincent St. Mary (6-14). Leading the way offensively for the Panthers was Daniel Hopkins who turned in a three hit, three RBI performance.
Both squads were able to get runners on base in the opening innings, but neither would see the scoreboard until the third. On the first pitch he saw, Noah Willig laid down a perfect bunt and beat out the throw to open the home half of the inning. After Paul Mattei reached on a single, Daniel Hopkins got a single of his own to drive in Willig, putting Norton up 1-0. After a walk to Justin Fuller loaded the bases, sacrifices by Antal and Tanner Cool would bring home two more runners, giving the Panthers a 3-0 lead after three.
Photo by Devin Lowe
The Norton bats continued their hot streak into the fourth, as McKennan Cooper led things off with a triple. Two batters later, Cooper would come in to score on a Mattei single. Hopkins then hit his second single in as many innings to score Cooper and extend the lead to 5-0 heading into the fifth.
Refusing to back down, the Irish finally broke into the scoring column in the top of the sixth. Daniel Krabill led things off with a single. After the next two hitters were retired, Tyler Slone hit an RBI single to draw things closer at 5-1. Norton would get one more in the bottom of the sixth, when Tyler Kroger scored on a Hopkins single. Kellen Meyer took over for Antal in the top of the seventh and retired the side in order, giving the Panthers a 6-1 victory.
The Irish won’t have much time to dwell on the loss as they head to Massillon to take on Perry (5-22) Friday night at 7 pm. Norton is back in action again Friday night as they host the Wadsworth Grizzlies (16-3) at 5 pm.
Keys to the Game
Senior starting pitcher George Antal was electric Thursday evening. Antal struck out five of the first seven batters he faced and drove in a run of his own on a sacrifice bunt in the third. Leading off the third, Noah Willig beating out a bunt single provided an instant spark to the Panthers dugout as they went on to score three times in the inning.
Despite hitting out of the nine spot in the order, Shane Adamczyk turned in an impressive performance for the Irish, going two-for-three with a double and a stolen base. Daniel Krabill also had two hits on the evening along with two stolen bases.
Photo by Devin Lowe
Top Performers
St. Vincent St. Mary
Daniel Krabill: 2-3 2 SB 1 R
Shane Adamczyk: 2-3 2B 1 SB
Max Milkovich: 2-3 2 SB
Norton
George Antal: 6 IP 11 K 7 H 2 BB 1 ER 0-1 BB RBI
Daniel Hopkins: 3-4 3 RBI 1 R
Paul Mattei: 2-4 1 RBI 2 R
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | R | H | E | |
| SVSM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Norton | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | 6 | 8 | 0 |
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