The Niles baseball team snapped an eight-game losing streak in game one of a doubleheader Wednesday against Wolverine Conference champion Edwardsburg. The Vikings won the opener, 7-3, while the Eddies bounced back to win game two, 10-5.

“Good things and bad things,” Niles baseball coach Mike Vota said about his team’s play on Wednesday. “A good thing is that we swung the bats OK and we moved runners in the first game when we needed to. The biggest negative that we have to improve on is that in the second game we had two innings where we gave them five outs and six outs.

“That’s when they scored a bunch of their runs. We have to be able to make routine plays and minimize damage.”

Niles got off to a great start in the opener, The Vikings scored three runs on four hits in the first inning. Austin Curran’s RBI single gave the visitors a 2-0 lead.

The Vikings also scored three runs in the fourth to stretch their lead to 7-0. Drew Huffman had an RBI single to highlight that inning.

Chase Tarwacki hit a two-run single in the seventh for the Eddies, who had a hard time solving Niles starting pitcher Jake Hamm.  Hamm struck out five and allowed seven hits in going the distance.

“He threw well,” Vota said about Hamm. “He was down in the zone and attacked people with his fastball. He threw a winkle in there now and then to keep them honest.”

In game two, the Eddies were led offensively by Mason Mitchell  and Chris Griffin. Mitchell totaled three hits, including two doubles, and drove in three runs, while Griffin had three hits and two RBIs.

Mitchell’s two-run double was the key hit in a five-run third inning for Edwardsburg, which gave them a 5-1 lead. Griffin collected an RBI single in a two-run fourth for the hosts and Brandon Handy cracked a two-run double in a two-run fifth for the Eddies.

“Those two can hit,” Edwardsburg baseball coach A.J. Gaideski said about Mitchell and Griffin. “When they get hot I love it. They’re ripping the ball and that’s a good thing.”

Hamm had two hits and two RBIs for Niles in game two.

A complete box score can be found at www.leaderpub.com.

 

NILES 7-5, EDWARDSBURG 3-10

At Edwardsburg

First game

Niles                            301     300     0 – 7 10 1

Edwardsburg            000     010     2 – 3 7 1

Jake Hamm (W) and Cody Glick; Jacoby Kanaby (L), Devin Pulling (7) and Zach Plummer.

2B: Jakob Huffman (N), Keegan Neumann (N).

 

Second game

Niles                            010     110     2 – 5 8 2

Edwardsburg            005     221     x – 10 13 0

Bryce Lake (L), Dustin Anders (6) and Tayton Stevens; Jake Robinson (W), Mason Mitchell (7) and Devin Pulling.

2B: Mitchell 2 (E), Chris Griffin (E), Damion Pompey (E), Brandon Handy (E).

Varsity records: Niles 13-14, Edwardsburg 21-9.