Preston Graham and Colton Duttweiler dominated Decatur in leading the Trojans to 10-0 and 6-2 wins over the Bulldogs Friday to sweep their best-of-three Class AAA first round matchup at Jody Davis Field.
Graham was especially impressive fanning the 17 in a six-inning, complete-game effort in Game 1, including striking out the first 15 batters of the game. Duttweiler fanned seven in going the distance in Game 2.
The two southpaw hurlers allowed just five hits and walked none combined. The Trojans defense was sterling and committed just one error in the series, in the final inning of Game 2.
"They both were outstanding," North Hall coach Trent Mongero said. "They threw strikes and stayed ahead of hitters. They only thing is that Adam (Kelly) didn't get to pitch and we were hoping to maybe get him an inning or so. But when you have a deep staff that happens.
"I also thought our defense played outstanding in tough weather conditions. The wind was rough and it was cold. If we continue to play like that we'll be fine."
North Hall (26-2) next will play the winner of the Franklin County-Sonoraville series beginning Wednesday at North Hall.
In Game 1, which ended in six innings, North Hall wasted little time in jumping on the Bulldogs. Andrew Smith singled to lead off the first inning and then would score on a one-out single by Griffin Olson. Olson would later steal home after a fielder's choice ground out by Kelly, who survived a wild run-down allowing Olson to score. Kelly would come on an RBI triple by Lincoln Hewett for a 3-0 lead.
That was all Graham needed.
Graham struck out the first 15 Decatur batters and did not allow a hit until the sixth inning. The senior finished with 17 strikeouts and the only out not recorded by strikeout, Graham picked off Liam Foskett at first after he singled.
"There's no words really to describe it," Graham said. "God just gave me the ability and I'm trying to do the best I can with it. But I felt like I was in the zone. The ball just went wherever I was trying to put it. The guys behind just kept encouraging me and I was able to feed off that."
"I've never seen anything like that in all my years of playing and coaching," Mongero said of Graham's effort. "Unbelievable. The best I've ever seen him pitch. He was dealing."
The Trojans added a run in the second and then blew the game open in the third with three runs after two were out, highlighted by a two-run triple by McCoy Savage.
Zach Mize put the finishing touches on Game 1 with a two-run double to center scoring Brock Wingo and Andrew Smith.
In Game 2, North Hall again jumped out on top first getting three runs in the second inning. Smith would single in two runs and then Graham would score an infield hit by Mize for a 3-0 lead.
It stayed that way until the fifth, when Kelly drove in Mize with a sacrifice fly to right for a 4-0 lead. North Hall put the game out of reach with two more runs in the seventh on RBI ground outs by Kelly and Hewett.
Decatur (14-13) got its only runs in the bottom of the seventh on a RBI single by Zak Schulman, scoring Kendall Ford, who had doubled to start the inning. Schulman later scored on a botched run-down by the Trojans.
Smith and Mize were again the catalysts for the North Hall offense at the top of the order. Each finished with four hits and three RBI and Smith scored five runs.
"They're table-setters and their job is to run deep counts and find ways on base. They did a great job of that today," Mongero said about the pair.
For the series, Olson had two hits and two RBI, Duttweiler had two hits, Hewett had three hits, Savage had two hits, and Graham had one hit for North Hall.
NOTES: The wins pushed the Trojans' win streak to 15 games...North Hall has pitched six shutouts in its last nine games. They have allowed just seven total runs in that span...The Trojans also have two or fewer runs in 23 of 28 games this season.
Preston Graham fanned 17 to lead North Hall to a 10-0 win over Decatur Friday in Game 1 of their best-of-three Class AAA series.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/5/261202