If sophomore Peyton Dickens’ varsity pitching debut Tuesday afternoon is any indication, Whiteland’s future will be pretty good.
Dickens struck out 12 batters and fired a no-hitter as the Warriors whipped host Edinburgh 24-0 in five innings in the opening round of the annual Johnson County tournament.
Dickens had total control, and even if the game went the full seven it was doubtful the Lancers would have tagged one on him. Dickens so stymied the Lancers hitters that they only connected with the ball twice — both slow rollers to the mound where Dickens assisted on the putouts by firing to first. It wasn’t a perfect debut, as he did walk two batters and had a throwing error, but everything else was right.
And it wasn’t even his first no-hitter.
“I’ve had a few before in travel ball, one last year and a few other times,” Dickens said. “Really, it was like another baseball game out there. In the second inning I felt like I was rolling and throwing pretty well, hitting my spots.”
Hitting spots was kind of a theme for the Warriors offensively as they hit plenty of spots, smashing 16 hits, including six extra-base hits.
For the first two innings, it looked like it might be a competitive game as the Lancers held Whiteland to four runs. It was in the third inning that Whiteland put an end to any upset hopes Edinburgh had.
In that frame, the Warriors batted around the lineup twice and scored 13 runs on six hits.
The big blow was sophomore Blake Riddle’s two-run homer to center field. Riddle had quite the day with four hits, including a double, three runs, four RBIs and two stolen bases.
Dickens was also a force at the plate with a double, a triple and two RBIs.
“Peyton did a nice job out there, throwing strikes and doing everything we asked him to,” Whiteland coach Scott Sherry said. “We also put the ball in play and as this team has some speed and we used it early. After that, it was all up to Peyton.”
Also having multiple hits for Whiteland were leadoff man Maalik Perkins, Kevin Denham and David Collins.
Whiteland makes it a perfect start to the season after having dispatched Greenwood on Monday. The Warriors move to 2-0 in the young season, while the Lancers fall to 0-3.
Whiteland will play Center Grove in a Saturday afternoon tournament semifinal, but before that, the Warriors have a return game at Greenwood today at 5:30 p.m. Edinburgh travels to Hauser on Thursday for a Mid-Hoosier Conference game.
