NorthWood’s Brant Mast watches his hit fly over the left field wall in the Panthers’ 14-3 win at Fairfield Friday afternoon. (Photos by Mike Deak)

BENTON – Really wanting to make a statement at the plate, Brant Mast had to do it with a chip on his shoulder. Well, on his back.

Mast used the frustration of getting plunked in his first at-bat to turn around a huge day at the plate, leading NorthWood to a 14-3 baseball win Friday at Fairfield.

Jaden Miller gestures after taking third on an overthrow.

A new stance and approach at the plate for Mast saw him take a pitch in the back in the first inning, but it started a big inning for the Panthers. A single by Matt Dutkowski put runners on the corners, to which Payton Bear drove in Mast for a 1-0 lead. Kyler Hauptli then drove a pitch from Braden Garrison over the wall in left to boost the lead to 4-0.

Mast came up in the third and ripped a double, then came around to score on Alec Holcomb’s RBI single, taking a challenge from NorthWood head coach AJ Risedorph to change his approach at the plate and drive the ball the other way.

“Part of Brant’s frustration is that he’s trying a new spot in the box,” began Risedorph on Mast’s at-bats. “Even on the home run, I told him, ‘you saw nothing but offspeed in the at-bat so far, so why don’t you focus on taking that offspeed to right-center. You’re hands are quick enough to get a fastball and work around it.’ He ended up getting a fast ball and went left-center then and saw another breaking ball that he ended up taking it to right-center.

“That’s great leadership by our senior there.”

Mast followed up the challenge at-bat with a bomb in his next plate appearance, a three-run shot to left that became part of a nine-run inning. Jaden Miller also rocked a three-run homer, landing almost in the same spot as Mast’s and Hauptli’s homer resting spots. Payton Bear and Trey Allman also added RBI hits in the inning.

“It’s been pretty consistent,” Risedorph said. “So many of these guys are when given the opportunity, they have had such great approaches regardless of outcome, a lot of these guys are seeing more than six pitches an at-bat. For us, that’s a quality AB. That’s something all these guys have been able to do. That’s been one through nine, and even the bench. That’s been nice.”

Matt Dutkowski (25) is greeted by his Panther teammates after scoring a run.

Fairfield, shellshocked from the abrupt start from the Panthers, saw its offense not wake up until the fourth.

NorthWood starter, Sawyer Warren, didn’t allow a hit until the fourth – and per Risedorph – didn’t throw 25 pitches through the first three innings. Warren would run into a little trouble in the fourth, giving up a double to Evan Connolly then an RBI single to Chandler Miller and throwing a wild pitch to allow Miller to come around to score.

Warren would allow just two hits, two runs, four walks and four strikeouts in his four innings of work, ending with 57 pitches thrown. Garrison was charged with all 14 runs, having to sacrifice outs as Fairfield was in the second of a three-games-in-three-days stretch.

Miller would drive in the final Falcon run with a single in the fifth to highlight to Fairfield day.

“We tried different things and we threw strikes, and we were around the plate, but their approach at the plate is very good,” said Fairfield head coach Darin Kauffman. “The guys battled, and we had a good win last night against Angola. But we knew this was going to be tough. This is a tough week going back-to-back against Angola and NorthWood.”

NorthWood (4-1) will enter Northern Lakes Conference play Monday against Concord while Fairfield (2-4) will jump back into Northeast Corner Conference play Saturday against Central Noble.

NorthWood starting pitcher Sawyer Warren deals to Fairfield.