That was the goal Wednesday and Wyatt’s squad pulled it off to near perfection.
The Panthers prowled around the base paths all night, stealing 16 bases in a 12-5 win over the Tigers at Bowen Field in the Coppinger Tournament.
The efficient base running put the Panthers in position to score throughout the night and they did so on base hits, balls in play and wild pitches, always ready to strike.
“Thirteen strikeouts is not going to win many ball games,” Wyatt said. “We have to find a way on and that’s what we do well. The guys pick and choose when they go and they’re good at timing that up. Sixteen true stolen bases created a little bit of chaos and a little bit of frustration and that’s a huge part of our game that we have to solidify early in games. I juts did a terrible job early of making that happen. We made change in the third inning, saw some stuff that we liked and took advantage of.”
For Princeton the errors that have plagued it weren’t the root of the issue Wednesday but another that head coach Brandon Dunford has harped on was – pitch counts. Starter Braydon Dalton pitched five innings but needed 100 pitches to do so, with 41 of them thrown for balls.
Dalton proved effective through five innings, giving the Tigers a shot in a 5-2 game but his pitch count forced him out, leading way to a relief staff that issued six walks and six runs during a spurt where the Panthers blew the game open.
“I thought Braydon Dalton gave us a really good effort on the mound,” Dunford said. “We still are struggling with going deep into the game and high pitch counts. I think further down the road, for us to be successful, if our lineup is hitting we need pitchers to pitch strikes and work ahead in the zone and work ahead in the count. That way we can utilize our off-speed stuff.”
The Panthers didn’t need to do much on the basepaths to manufacture their first run, striking first in the third inning. A leadoff walk to Landon Wyatt stung Princeton as Eli Naylor brought him home with a double, later scoring on an RBI single from Eli Hilling.
The bottom of PikeView’s lineup, which drew seven walks in 14 plate appearances, set the table in the fourth with Landon Bolen and Austin Bennett both reaching on free passes. Landon Wyatt drove Bolen in and Trenton Tolliver followed with an RBI single to plate Bennett. Tolliver worked his way from first to third with steals, taking home on a passed ball to push the lead to 5-0.
Brady Cline put the Tigers on the board in the bottom of the frame with a sac fly and an RBI single from Landon Crane in the fifth brought Princeton to within three runs.
But in the sixth inning the Panthers sent 11 to the plate, chasing Dalton and plating five runs, three of which came on passed balls or wild pitches.
“I was telling the guys a different approach at the plate and it kind of took us out of who we are,” Coach Wyatt said. “We changed that up in the third inning, not to worry about pitch count. So we started being more selective at the plate and looking for pitches we can drive. And in return it did run that pitch count up so I’ll shoulder that one.”
PikeView led by as many as 10 runs late before Princeton tacked on a trio in the final inning.
Four different Panthers notched tow hits each with Eli Naylor leading the way with a pair of doubles. Christian Walters led the team with two RBI.
Picking up the win was Bolen who threw 75 pitches in five innings of work, not allowing a single earned run.
Brady Combs, who suffered a lower leg injury sliding into second base late, led Princeton with two hits.
