Beau knows baseball: Collier hits, pitches and runs the Toppers to victory

[May 02, 2015]  MOUNT PULASKI - Collier pitched in relief of winning pitcher Brayden Curry and earned his first save of the season for the Toppers. He was also 4-4 with 4 RBIs, 5 stolen bases and 3 runs scored. In earning the save, Collier faced four batters in 1 and 1/3 innings and struck out two of those batters. Collier also had an extra pair of pants handy in his car as he was forced to change due to blood being spotted on his knee from swiping all those bases. Now how many guys can do a quick-change like that?

In addition to being a thorn in the side of Springfield Lutheran on this afternoon, the senior also surprised the Crusaders on the basketball court back in February and scored 20 points in a regular season matchup between the two teams. You could say Collier gets a little pumped up when he plays the Crusaders.

Friday afternoon though the Crusaders did strike first against the Toppers with a run off Curry in the top of the first. But as Collier stepped to the plate with runners on first and second, he immediately smacked an RBI single to even the score, 1-1.

In the bottom of the second inning, it was freshman Peyton Taylor ripping a two-run double to give the Toppers a 3-1 lead. Springfield Lutheran struck back in the top of the third scoring three runs and taking a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the third it was Collier again with a hit and he eventually flew home on a sacrifice fly by Curry to tie the game at 4-4. Aaron Durchholz then crushed a double to give MountPulaski the lead 5-4.

Curry cruised through the fourth and fifth innings without allowing a run and the Toppers were holding on to a slim 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Michael Lowery led off with a triple and he was able to come trotting home on another Collier hit. The Toppers added another insurance run as Collier, who had swiped both second and third bases, came home on a throwing error.

The Toppers felt a little more confident with a 7-4 lead going into the top of the sixth. However, you can never get too confident in the game of baseball. Despite an error, four walks and a hit batter in the inning, Mount Pulaski managed to hold Lutheran to just two runs scored in the top of the sixth. Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning with a narrow 7-6 lead, it was "Beau Time" again. The cleanup hitter came through with a two-run single, his fourth of the day, giving Mount Pulaski the 9-6 lead. A terror on the base paths all afternoon, Collier would swipe second and score on Matt Amidon's single. The score now 10-6 in favor of the Toppers. Amidon, who had four stolen bases on the day, stole both second and third and managed to score easily on a deep sacrifice fly by Curry.

This finished out the scoring for the Toppers and the final score was 11-6 as Collier slammed the door in the top of the seventh inning with a fine pitching performance to top off his afternoon.

Indeed, Beau knows baseball. His twin brother, Blake, who is among the area leaders in batting average with a .418 average going into this game, was 0-4 against the Crusaders, but he came up with a little good-natured teasing of his brother when he was overheard saying to Beau, "You can read a pitcher but you can't read a book." Only something brothers could get by saying to each other. The Collier twins, as they have been referred to all their lives, are both huge reasons for the Toppers success and it's great to see both of them having such fantastic senior seasons. Now if only Beau could get a little more help out of his brother. Just kidding....that's another one of those twin teasings.

Back to the game, the Toppers record improves to 12-9 and the players get a day off today for Prom, but will be back in action at home on Monday at 4:30 versus Cornerstone Christian Academy.

[Teena Lowery]