Northwood scores early and holds on to defeat Uni 3-1 in Pacific Coast League contest

Northwood players celebrate after Tuesday’s PCL victory over Uni (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Northwood’s baseball team scored two runs in the first inning, one of them unearned, and went on to defeat University 3-1 in a Pacific Coast League game Tuesday afternoon at Uni.

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The Timberwolves (4-5-1 overall) remained tied for second place with Irvine, which defeated Woodbridge 9-8 in eight innings Tuesday. Northwood and Irvine are both 4-2 in PCL play.

“It was a great game, that kid (University pitcher Brad Hodges) is pretty darn good,” said Northwood Coach Rob Stuart. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays professional baseball one day, he has that good of an arm.

“Our guys were very uncomfortable. We put a couple balls in play that first inning which proved to be the winning run. But we executed and put the ball in play when we needed to and got some breaks. Sometimes you got to make your own breaks.”

In the first inning Darren Shorter reached on a two-base throwing error and Jason Carrig singled. Shorter scored on a groundout by Matt Lawrence and Carrig came home on a ground-out by Luke Demaio. Lawrence and Demaio each had RBI.

In the bottom of the inning, Jacob Carroll and Nick Wetzel were hit by the pitch and Carroll scored on an RBI single by Jackson LoBianco.

But the Trojans left the bases and stranded eight runners in the game.

After that, Northwood looked to starting pitcher Arthur Liu, who pitched the first 4 2/3 innings allowing one run and Justin Bonnell, who blanked University (4-7, 1-5) the rest of the way. Liu (1-1) had five strikeouts and Bonnell had one.

“Arthur battled and that was fun to see,” Stuart said. “Justin came in to pitch and he does what we ask: he just throws the ball down the middle with that sink and he competes and we had some really nice defensve plays. It was an exciting game, we were very happy to get that win.”

Northwood added another run in the fifth inning. Carrig and Lawrence both walked and both came around to score on a wild pitch.

University threatened in the fifth inning. LoBianco doubled with one out, but was stranded there, part of a frustrating day for the Trojans.

“I thought we put together a much better game than we’ve been playing the last few games,” said University Coach Mike Thompson. “We had the same story we’ve had all year. We’ve been having runners on base but we just can’t get them in. We had a similar story today, leaving eight runners on base and we had some big spots where we just couldn’t come through with.

“The positive is they’re swinging the bats well. We just got to start getting them in when they’re in scoring position.”

Hodges pitched the first 5 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs. He struck out six, walked four and allowed three hits. Carroll and Ryan Miller finished on the mound for the Trojans.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com