North Warren continues historic run, advances to regional final

PLATTSBURGH | North Warren's baseball program is in uncharted territory. The Cougars recently captured their first-ever sectional championship, and it came only two years after a winless 0-13 season. North Warren took it one step further on Wednesday at Plattsburgh High before ultimately advancing in the Class D regionals Saturday. Clinching their sectional win, the Cougars struck for six runs in the fourth inning to take a 9-4 lead they would never relinquish in a 15-8 victory over Lake Placid. Wyatt Jennings was only one out shy of a complete game. He delivered his 129th pitch to record his 11th strikeout and reach the pitch-count limit. "Fastball was key today," Jennings said. "Right when I found the grip and got it to go, it was just going. It was working. No one could touch it." The Cougars faced a 4-3 deficit after Jennings balked home two runs in the third inning, but North Warren answered with six runs in the ensuing half-inning. CJ Barlow singled to center field, and Will Lindsley scored on the throw home to tie the game at 4-4. Maceo Matson doubled on a fly ball to left field to plate Barlow, and Jennings followed with another double to bring Matson home. Brodie Rooker extended the Cougars' lead to 7-4 by singling to center field, scoring Jennings. Lindsley, in his second plate appearance of the inning, singled to left field. Daniel Mattison scored on the base knock, and Tyler Hitchcock crossed home plate by way of an error in left. "It was just staying focused, staying on task," North Warren head coach John Kelly said. "We've seen (Jon Caito) a couple times through the lineup, so we know what he's throwing. He starts to form a little bit of a pattern and you just learn when to attack." Lake Placid pulled within 9-5 in the fourth and 12-8 in the fifth, but the Cougars tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh. Rooker's sacrifice fly to left field plated Hitchcock, George Hilton's infield single sent home Lindsley and Hilton came around to score following Matson's single. Lake Placid, which captured the Section VII Class D title despite finishing third in the Mountain and Valley Athletic Conference, concluded its season at 11-5. "We could very easily have just packed it up and gone home, but we didn't," Blue Bombers head coach Brian Brandes said. "They wouldn't have, and they didn't do that all year long. They were going to battle right until the end." Matson, Lindsley and Barlow all finished with three hits. The bottom one-third of North Warren's lineup went 8-for-12 with seven RBIs. Jarrett Mihill led Lake Placid's lineup with a 3-for-4 afternoon to go with two RBIs. "Every game is a blessing right now," Kelly said. "Every game now is just a bonus for us. So we're just here to play baseball at this point. "They just have to stick together and take care of the baseball, and we'll be just fine."

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North Warren continues historic run, advances to regional final

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