Baseball: Burdick pitching gem, three-run fourth inning lift Dixon past North Boone

DIXON – The Dixon and North Boone baseball teams were locked in a pitcher’s duel for three innings in Game 1 of Thursday afternoon’s Big Northern Conference doubleheader at Veterans Memorial Park, then the Dukes scored three fourth-inning runs to pull away for a 4-1 win.

The Dukes had already clinched the Big Northern Conference title, but swept the Vikings with a 5-2 in Game 2 to finish the league season at 17-1.

The Vikings threatened to take the lead in the top of the first, getting runners on second and third after a Chandler Alderman walk, an Eli Lopez single, and a double steal during Tyler Slater’s at-bat.

Dixon pitcher Gage Burdick wasn’t fazed by the pressure, though, as he notched his third strikeout against Slater to end the inning.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. North Boone baseball ]

In retrospect, the scoreless first inning proved pretty important for the Dukes.

“That’s huge,” Burdick said. “That kills their momentum big-time, and that just gives us a chance to get back in it and get our self-esteem up.”

Added Kyan Adkins: “That was huge because if those runners scored, then that would have been a completely different game, and we would’ve lost full momentum.”

Burdick worked a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second, and concluded the third inning in four at-bats.

The Dukes’ offense finally got going in the bottom of third, as they took a 1-0 lead.

With two outs in the inning, Beau Evans flew a double out to center field. During Max Clark’s at-bat, Evans tried to steal third, then came home after a high catcher pickoff attempt sailed down the third-base line.

North Boone knotted the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth after Slater singled to third, stole second during Ben Castillo’s at-bat, and scored after a Castillo single and a pair of errors – a dropped ball on a tagout attempt at first, and another drop on an errant throw to home.

After the brief defensive skid, Dixon (19-1) regained its footing in the bottom of the inning, plating three runs to pull away for the win.

Burdick led off the inning with a single, reaching second on an errant throw to first. Alderman struck out the next batter, and Burdick stole third during Bryce Feit’s at-bat. After Feit grounded out, the Vikings appeared to be in pretty good shape.

But in the next at-bat, Adkins flew a two-out single to right field, scoring Burdick for the go-ahead run.

“That was huge,” Burdick said. “That gave me a lot of confidence [as a pitcher] going into the next inning, and that’s very comforting.”

“Gage told me some really good advice, to shorten my swing up, and just fast hands, pretty much,” Adkins said, referencing his approach on the critical at-bat. “I took that to heart, I sped my swing up, and I just tried to barrel it up, tried to push it.”

Up next, Trey Scheidegger drew a walk. With two outs in the inning and runners on first and second, Jake Gaither flew a two-run triple to right field, plating Adkins and Scheidegger for a 4-1 lead.

Burdick and Adkins were relieved to see Gaither’s big fourth-inning hit.

“100%,” Burdick said. “That’s kind of when I knew I had to go out there and do my job and shut things down, and we’d be good.”

“Oh yeah, those were some big insurance runs right there,” Adkins added. “That was really big for us.”

In the top of the fifth, North Boone singled twice, but Dixon’s defense earned two flyouts and one groundout to end the game.

Burdick (7-0) pitched all five innings for the win, striking out nine, walking one, and allowing three hits and zero earned runs.

“[Gage’s pitching performance] was huge. If he didn’t pitch as well as he did, I don’t think we would’ve won that game, in all fairness,” Adkins said. “Because we did not really have the bats going that game, so thank God for Gage.”

Gaither went 1 for 3 with a two-run triple, and Adkins went 1 for 2 with one RBI to lead Dixon hitters.

Alderman took the loss, striking out five, walking two, and surrendering six hits and three runs over five innings.

Lopez went 2 for 3 to lead North Boone at the plate.

Burdick and Adkins say they feel good about their team heading into the postseason.

“I think our team’s doing really good collectively,” Burdick said. “Everyone’s coming together, we’re learning to communicate better with each other, and we’re just staying on a roll.”

“I feel great [about our team heading into the postseason]. I think we’re going to state,” Adkins said. “I honestly think we could win state. With this team this year, we’re really close together, and we have really good chemistry. I think we could make it as far as any team could, as the best team could.”

Dixon 5, North Boone 2: The Dukes scored three runs in the third inning to pul away in the nightcap.

Burdick went 3 for 3 with two RBIs, and Brody Potter and Lucas Sheridan also drove in runs for Dixon. Gaither scored twice, while Clark, Burdick and Adkins also scored runs.

Clark (3-0) gave up two runs (one earned) and one hit in 3+ innings, striking out four and walking four. Gaither earned the save, pitching a shutout over the final two innings, with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts.