Patriots jump on Harris early in 10-1 win

The Northside Patriots weren’t a kind host to their region mates from Harris County on Thursday, jumping all over the Tigers 10-1 in a game that saw the Patriots score early and often.

The game had an inauspicious start for the home team, however.

Harris County first baseman Harry Rich drove a Sam Kyte fastball over the center field wall with two outs in the top of the first inning, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

It would prove to be a very brief advantage for the Tigers, though, as Northside scored two in the bottom half of the first and three more in the second to seize momentum. In both innings, it took one swing of the bat to bring the runs home: Drew Haywood’s first inning double brought in two runs and gave Northside a lead they wouldn’t relinquish at 2-1, and in the second, Seth Shatix hit a bases-loaded double deep to left center field to clear the bases.

In the process, the Patriots put Harris County starter Britt Griffin to work as he threw 30 pitches in the first inning and 53 over the first two frames.

“I knew we were having a lot of good at-bats, fouling pitches off with two strikes, being able to get deep in the count and see a lot of pitches,” said Northside head coach Dee Miller. “The guys had a really good approach that allowed us to run that count up.”

“We didn’t pitch very well, and quite honestly, we didn’t play very well,” said Harris County head coach Steve Westmoreland. “We’re going to own that. We own it when we play well, so we have to do the same when we don’t play well.

“You’ve got to give Northside a lot of credit. They had some quality at bats, they squared a lot of balls up, and they made it hard on us to play well. I’m not sure it was our best effort.”

The Patriots erupted for four more runs in the bottom of the fourth, due in no small part to two crucial Harris County fielding errors in the middle infield. Northside actually left the bases loaded in the inning as all nine Patriots had an at-bat, with leadoff hitter Alex Royal coming to the plate twice.

“Your pitcher’s having trouble getting off the mound and he makes a few pitches and you don’t help him out,” Westmoreland said of the fourth inning errors.

Harris County responded in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs and Rich at the plate, but Kyte stood tall and struck him out swinging, ending the Tiger threat.

“A couple of base hits here and there and you can get yourself closer, give yourself some hope, but we just didn’t do enough today to really give us a chance to be competitive,” Westmoreland said.

Kyte picked up the complete game win for Northside, scattering six hits and seven strikeouts in the seven innings pitched.

“He threw the ball extremely well today,” Miller said. “His fastball was in and out and his changeup was good; it’s a pitch he’s really worked hard on the past couple of years, and he’s reaping the fruits of his labor.

“Even the home run ball was a strike on a 2-1 count with no one on, caught the white of the plate, and we’ll take our chances. Harry put a good swing on it and drove it out.”

The win briefly gives Northside (15-5, 10-3 Region 1-5A) a half-game region lead over Columbus (16-3, 9-3 Region 1-5A), which defeated Carver on Thursday.

The Tigers (12-7, 8-4 Region 1-5A) will face the Patriots again Friday afternoon with the scene shifting to Hamilton, as Harris County will host Northside at 5:30 p.m.

“It’s a big game because it’s the next game. We’ll approach it the same way we did today’s game and hopefully continue to play like we did tonight,” Miller said.

“Baseball can humble you in a heartbeat,” Westmoreland said. “We had a good two and a half week stretch; today wasn’t our day, but luckily for us, we can try our hand again at it tomorrow.

“Our goal all year is to win two out of three every week. At this point, it doesn’t matter who you win those two from; if we can get one tomorrow, we’ll have two out of three this week.”

Northside 10, Harris County 1

Thursday at Northside

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Patriots jump on Harris early in 10-1 win."