CC 7 Harrison 2

CC vs Harrison video highlights!!!


Written by
NATHAN BAIRD

After Harrison's Nick Leuck laced a triple off the base of the right field wall in the third inning on Tuesday, Central Catholic pitcher Austin Munn resolved to stay away from the middle of the plate.

Sometimes that nibbling backfired; the senior right-hander walked seven Raiders. But he also didn't allow a hit after that triple and struck out eight in the Class A No. 1 Knights' 7-2 victory at Harrison.

"After that hit I was kind of like, well, if I'm going to keep throwing it over the plate like that they're going to keep doing that," Munn said. "I tried to spot up, make my pitches. Wiley (Lodde, CC's catcher) did a great job back there. I knew my defense was behind me and everything worked out."

Harrison, playing its season opener, chased Munn in the bottom of the seventh. 

Joe Dinkel greeted reliever Andrew Hubertz with an RBI single, but Hubertz responded with a pair of strikeouts to end the game.

"We need to work on our offense," said Leuck, a senior who took the pitching loss. "Our defense was pretty tight, except for a few. But our hitting needs to get going from the start instead of getting down and then coming back."

Munn walked Dinkel to open the game, setting the tone for a game that featured 14 free passes and 255 pitches. He walked at least one batter in every inning except the second, when Leuck tripled home Evan Tislow, who had singled.

Yet Munn also shut down the middle of the Raiders order, holding the Nos. 3-6 hitters to an 0-for-10 day with four strikeouts.

"I definitely try not to go out there and walk people, and I try to throw strikes," Munn said. "But I don't want people hitting triples on me every game. I kind of keep it in my back pocket that I try to hit my spots. I'm always trying to throw strikes and get my team back in the dugout to hit."

Dalton Skees and Nick Stone provided two-out, two-run singles in the second inning. Central Catholic never trailed while improving to 4-0.

"We knew once we were up they weren't going to come back," said Stone, who also reached on a two-out bunt single in the fourth and later scored on a wild pitch. "After that first inning (Munn) was just dealing up there."