Thursday, July 2, 2009 10:03 AM CDT
Toledo loses late; MDC wins by run
BY BRIAN NIELSEN , Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
MATTOON -- Trailing by a run heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, a hopeful Josh McClain asked if he could pitch the eighth.
His Macon County Post 105 coach B.J. Rotz was even more optimistic.
“I told him to put his glove in his bag; that we were winning it in the seventh,” Rotz said.
That might have seemed like blowing smoke when Macon County’s next two batters were retired.
But after Michael Webb’s single, Dalton Geisler knew the possibilities as he approached the plate.
“Nobody said it to me but it crossed my mind,” Geisler said. “I’m not going to lie.”
Moments later others saw what Geisler was thinking.
The Mount Zion graduate belted a two-run homer over the left field fence giving Macon County a 3-2 baseball win over Toledo Post 764 in Wednesday’s opening game of Mattoon’s Senior American Legion Firecracker Classic at Grimes Field.
This spoiled a strong pitching effort by Toledo’s Nick Wendling, who had limited Macon County to a run on three hits through six innings.
“We got two outs and he said it was his fault because he let up on the next batter,” Toledo coach Jim Miller said. “He took the loss upon himself and said ‘I let the team down.’ I told him sometimes in baseball that happens, the best pitch is still the one that beats you”
Miller pointed to more than just the final inning costing his Post 764 team.
“We had some opportunities to get a couple of insurance runs and we left them out there,” Miller said.
After Macon County scored a run in the first inning, Toledo tied it in the third when Jared Massengill doubled and scored on Tyler Poland’s two-out single and went ahead in the fourth when Blake Kuhl walked and scored on Taylor Biggs’ double.
Biggs also had two good running catches in right field to help limit Macon County.
But then Geisler, who had walked, doubled and grounded out in earlier plate appearances, got his chance.
“We thought we had him fooled,” Miller said. “He just made a good cut.”
Geisler, who is going to the University of Illinois for chemical engineering but not to play baseball, said: “I knew it was out of here off the bat.”
Moultrie-Douglas 5, Robinson 4
As Robinson Post 69 mounted a scoring threat for the second straight inning, sure, Moultrie-Douglas-County Posts 479/429/27 pitcher Paul Hrvol saw a teammate warming up in the bullpen.
No worries.
“We usually have someone warming up the last inning,” Hrvol said. “They hadn’t hit me that hard, just mainly ground balls.”
After Don Daugherty’s run-scoring ground out pulled Robinson within a run, Hrvol got the next batter to ground out completing MDC’s 5-4 first-round win.
“I asked (assistant coach) Steve Carver when the first guy got on,” MDC coach Wilson said of replacing his starting pitcher. “But his pitch count was only about 74, 75 at that point. His pitch count was good. Paul has some experience and he took advantage of it.”
A 2009 Sullivan graduate planning to walk on at Lake Land, Hrvol allowed seven hits, struck out six and walked one.
“I just threw ground balls and the defense fielded them,” he said.
Shortstop Tyler Frerichs not only had a strong game defensively but contributed a double and a single helping Moultrie-Douglas raise its record to 7-10.
Dillon Heol also had a double and a single that drove home what turned out to be an needed insurance run in the fifth inning.
This win probably was not MDC at its best.
“I thought we played really well last Tuesday when we played Charleston-Kansas,” Wilson said. “We have some good speed and that game we put that speed to use. That’s the way we want to play. We clean up things defensively and we’re 10-8.”
First game
Toledo 000 110 0 - 2-6-3
Macon County 100 000 2 - 3-5-1
Winning pitcher: Josh McClain 7 innings 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts. Losing pitcher; Nick Wendling 6 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Toledo: Tyler Szatkowski single; Jared Massengill double; Tyler Poland single, RBI; Taylor Biggs double, RBI; Trey Ryan single; Austin Robinson single Macon County: Steven Hendrickson single; Dalton Geisler double, home run, 2 RBIs; David Martin single
Second game
Moultrie-Douglas 012 020 0 - 5-6-2
Robinson 010 002 1 - 4-7-2
Winning pitcher: Paul Hrvol 7 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk
Moultrie-Douglas: Tyler Frerichs double, single: Dillon Heol double, single, RBI; Adam Carter RBI; Chris Marrs sacrifice fly, RBI; Paul Hrvol single; Kurtis Kinyon single, RBI
Robinson: Donnie Combs 2 singles; Charles Combs RBI; Don Daugherty single; Brandon Littlejohn double, RBI; Drew Morecraft double, RBI; Paco Avilla single; Brandon Shaw double
Post 88 juniors lose
MATTOON — Leading after four innings, Mattoon Post 88 wound up losing 12-2 to Teutopolis Post 924 in the seventh-place game of the Junior American Legion baseball Firecracker Classic,
Teutopolis 100 056 - 12
Mattoon 000 200 - 2
Mattoon: Cody Brush 2 singles; Austin Raboin single; Tony VanGundy single; Garrett McDowell single; Tate Jackson single
Paris juniors fifth
MATTOON – Paris Post 211 claimed fifth place in the Junior American Legion Firecracker Classic baseball tournament with Wednesday’s 8-2 win over Kansas Post 539.
Aaron Bence had three singles and Levi Ebbert homered for Kansas Post 539.
Paris 032 000 3- 8-8-
Kansas 002 000 - 2-9-3
Winning pitcher: Austin Redman
Paris: Clay Mason triple; Dylan Redman double; T.J. Waltz single; Eli Wiley single; Clay Mason triple; Robert Hogsdon single; Garrett Maynard double; Jacob Whitacre double, RBI
Kansas: Jordan Hayes single; Aaron Bence 3 singles; Levi Ebbert home run, 2 RBIs; Joe Fricke single; Clayton Cooper 2 singles; Nick Duffle single
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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