Astle out-battles Giesler to give Jeff 2-1 win
Devils score late for victory over top-ranked Jasper

Reprint from News and Tribune
By GREG MENGELT
greg.mengelt@newsandtribune.com

> SOUTHERN INDIANA — Jeffersonville ace pitcher Trent Astle held Class 3A No. 1 Jasper to one run on six hits as the Red Devils’ baseball team defeated the Wildcats 2-1 on Friday at Don Poole Field.

Astle threw a complete game and struck out 13 while walking just two Jasper batters.

“Trent, the kid just competes,” Jeff manager Derek Ellis said. “He has a gigantic heart. He just goes out and gets the job done.”

Jeff got just enough offense against Jasper ace Mark Giesler to win its sixth straight game. The Wildcats scored a single run on back-to-back doubles by Nick Gobert and Giesler to take a 1-0 lead in the third and they held the lead until the seventh.

“Jasper’s a great team,” Ellis said. “We knew it would be a tough game and it lived up to its billing.”

In the bottom of the last frame of regulation, Nolan Fertig singled home pinch-runner Damin Smith with one out to send the game into extra innings.

After Astle shut down Jasper (14-2) in the top of the eighth, the Red Devils’ Dallas Bott reached on an error to open the bottom of the inning. Drew Ellis followed with a single to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. After Astle walked to load the bases, Chandler Dale was hit by a Giesler pitch to score Bott with the winning run.

Giesler — a University of Dayton recruit — had a pair of doubles for the Wildcats and picked up the hard-luck loss.

Astle wins 20th in 8-1 win over BNL

Jeff’s Astle shuts down Stars

Two articles. Immediately below, by JUSTIN SOKELAND, further down the page, by Greg Menglett of the News and Tribune.

ON APRIL 20, 2013 IN BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE BASEBALL theHHCSports.com

Jeffersonville’s Trent Astle fires a pitch toward the plate during Saturday’s game with BNL. Astle struck out 14 and didn’t walk a batter while stopping the Stars 8-1.

Left-hander fans 14 as Red Devils roll to 8-1 win at BNL

TheHHCSports.com

In baseball terminology, a wicked curve ball is known as a “bender,” a “hook”, “Uncle Charlie,” or the “deuce.”

Whatever the phrase, Jeffersonville’s Trent Astle was wheelin’ and dealin’ it on Saturday afternoon at Bedford North Lawrence. The left-handed ace struck out 14 and allowed only three hits as the Red Devils stifled the Stars 8-1.

Astle, a Xavier University recruit, has a four-pitch assortment and pinpoint command of any. But when the “yakker” is talking and breaking, the opposition’s bats go silent. Astle, who threw a no-hitter in his last start against Kentucky’s North Bullitt, didn’t allow a BNL hit until the fifth and didn’t walk a batter.

“When his curve ball is on, he’s almost unhittable,” first-year Jeffersonville coach Derek Ellis said. “He had it on today.”

The Stars (5-6) finally broke through in the fifth with Derek Pritchett’s line drive to right-center, followed one-out later by Jack Green’s single to the same spot. BNL scored when Astle’s pick-off attempt of pinch-runner Jake Alvey was mishandled by Jeff first baseman Nick Gallagher, allowing Chandler Nicholson (who had reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Pritchett) to scamper home.

That was the extent of the BNL highlights. Astle didn’t allow any more.

“He’s the best pitcher we’ve seen this year, by far,” BNL coach Jerry Chaney said. “He was in command all day. I think they were nervous. I think they were trying to get a good pitch to hit, but he started most of the hitters off with a strike. Good pitching takes care of things.”

“Trent was being Trent,” Ellis said. “He does a great job of getting ahead of the hitters. He throws the ball where the umpire is calling the strikes. He dominated all the way through.”

The Red Devils (7-3) scored all they needed in the first three innings, striking for one in the first (with shortstop and Louisville recruit Drew Ellis scoring on an error), two in the second (with Nolan Fertig’s double the big blow) and three more in the third (with Astle delivering a two-run double)..

“We got ourselves in a hole,” Chaney said. “They capitalized and we didn’t. It’s not like we were playing a team that’s not any good. That’s an excellent team. They took advantage of their breaks.”

Jeffersonville added two more runs in the seventh as Josh Burke singled in a run.

Gallagher and Casey Gibson had two hits each for the Devils.

BNL’s Trey Ikerd had the third BNL hit, a double to right-center in the sixth.

============
By GREG MENGELT
greg.mengelt@newsandtribune.com
SOUTHERN INDIANA — Trent Astle won his 20th game at Jeffersonville, leading the Red Devils to an 8-1 victory over Bedford North Lawrence on Saturday.

Astle surrendered just one run on three hits in his complete-game performance. Astle, who struck out 14 Stars, joins Joe Greg Wright (29), Hunter Tipton (23), Walt Terrell (23), Adam Treat (22) and Keith Emly (20) as 20-game winners for the Red Devils.

Drew Ellis went 1 for 2 and scored twice to increase his hitting streak to 10 games. Astle also doubled in the win.

Meyer gives strong effort in Jeff’s 5-2 victory over New Albany

Big fourth inning helps Devils to third straight win

By KEVIN HARRIS
kevin.harris@newsandtribune.com

JEFFERSONVILLE — Mark Meyer had another solid outing on the mound and Jeffersonville scored all of its runs in the fourth through sixth innings in its 5-2 victory over New Albany on Wednesday night at Don Poole Field.

Meyer threw six-plus innings, allowing both of the Bulldogs’ runs (both earned) on four hits. The senior right-hander had five strikeouts and one walk.

Meyer pitched five innings of no-hit ball. But he wore down a little bit in the sixth and seventh innings, where New Albany (6-4) scored a run in each frame. It was Meyer’s first career start against the archrival Bulldogs.

“He did a great job,” Jeff coach Derek Ellis said. “He was on fumes there toward the end. He even told us that when we went out to talk to him [in the seventh].”

The Red Devils put three runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth. After Drew Ellis led off the inning with a double to right-center field, Trent Astle drove him in by lacing a double down the left-field line.

Complete article & photos http://newsandtribune.com/clarksports/x437167209/H-S-BASEBALL-Meyer-gives-strong-effort-in-Jeff-s-5-2-victory-over-New-Albany

Weekend games with Bullitt North HS (Score 5-0) and Thomas Nelson HS (Score 23-0) established some new records according to famed historian Pat Hennegan.

-Back to back ’no-hitters’….1st time ever.
Pitchers – Senior Trent Astle & Junior Drew Ellis

-21 hits vs. Thomas Nelson…School Record.
-23 run margin vs. Thomas Nelson…School Record.
-23 runs vs. Thomas Nelson…2nd most ever (1925/Georgetown)

Saturday’s double header will be played at Thomas Nelson High School.
2880 New Shepherdsville Rd, Bardstown, Ky 40004

First Game North Bullitt @1:30
Second Game Thomas Nelson HS $4:00