Mount Pulaski defeats Hartem 22-3 in baseball action

[April 25, 2018] 

The Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers pounded out a season-high 18 hits and scored a season-high 22 runs against the Hartem Stags Tuesday afternoon.

The Mount Pulaski bats were on fire with Todd Kelly and Ben Fricke smashing four hits apiece and Drew Martin connecting for hits on three of his at-bats. Brandon Kretzinger and Tanner Farris also had multi-hit games for Mount Pulaski. All in all the highlights were aplenty from the Hilltoppers side of the diamond.

The Hilltoppers scored their first run of the game in the second inning on an RBI single by Kelly.

Mount Pulaski added to the lead in the third inning on an RBI double by Fricke, an RBI single by Martin and a sacrifice fly by Grant Davis.

Heading into the fifth inning with a 4-0 lead, Mount Pulaski's Ian Schneider came up big with a two-out double that drove in two runs.

Hartem's highlights are condensed into the bottom of the fifth inning. An RBI single by Nate McAfee and an RBI double by Wyatt Hopkins led the Stags offense. Hartem also scored a run on a groundout in the inning.

Mount Pulaski only continued to add to the 6-3 lead late in the game. A six-run sixth inning and a 10-run seventh inning nailed the coffin shut on the Stags.

The big at-bats in the sixth inning came from Martin, Davis, Kelly and Austin Killion. Two runs scored when Martin hit a hard ground ball to third base and the third baseman committed an error. Davis and Killion had RBI singles in the inning. Kelly finished off the inning's offense with a double that scored two runs.

The 12-3 lead would have been sufficient for the win, but the Hilltopper bats were not cooling off. Mount Pulaski sent 13 men to the plate in the top of the seventh inning. Ten runners came across home plate to score in the inning and the assistant coach on the bench running the iPad was busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger. A bases loaded walk would account for the first Hilltopper run in the inning and the Stags troubles continued to mount. Another bases loaded walk and this game couldn't end soon enough for the home team. Kelly then came up to bat and slugged his second double of the game and two more runners came trotting home. Kretzinger followed that up with a double that scored two more runs. Martin was happy hitting singles all day and his base hit drove in another run. Finally it was Farris muscling one deep again for Mount Pulaski. A two-run shot by Farris, his second in as many days, was icing on the cake. Mount Pulaski cruised to the 22-3 win with Martin finishing things on the mound.

Farris was the winning pitcher. His performance was stellar on the mound and even though he surrendered three runs on eight hits he did record eight strikeouts and only walked one batter. Farris pitched five and one-third innings.

Martin struck out four, walked one and hit no-one in his inning and two-thirds out of the bullpen.

Kelly's offensive performance included going 4-for-5 with five RBIs. Fricke was 4-for-6 with an RBI. Martin was 3-for-5 with four RBIs.

Mount Pulaski's record is back over that .500 mark. An 8-7 record for the young Hilltoppers is more than respectable.

Mount Pulaski hitting stats

Lineup	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
Todd Kelly	5	2	4	5	1	0
Brandon Kretzinger	5	3	2	2	0	2
Ben Fricke	6	3	4	1	0	1
Drew Martin	5	5	3	4	0	1
Tanner Farris	3	5	2	2	3	0
Grant Davis	4	2	1	3	1	2
Austin Killion	5	1	1	2	0	1
Ian Schneider	4	0	1	2	1	2
Garrett Fitzpatrick	2	1	0	1	3	2
Dawson Combs	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	39	22	18	22	9	11

Batting2B: Ben Fricke, Todd Kelly 2, Brandon Kretzinger, Ian Schneider
HR: Tanner Farris
TB: Grant Davis, Tanner Farris 5, Ben Fricke 5, Todd Kelly 6, Austin Killion, Brandon Kretzinger 3, Drew Martin 3, Ian Schneider 2
RBI: Grant Davis 3, Tanner Farris 2, Garrett Fitzpatrick, Ben Fricke, Todd Kelly 5, Austin Killion 2, Brandon Kretzinger 2, Drew Martin 4, Ian Schneider 2
SF: Grant Davis
ROE: Drew Martin
FC: Austin Killion
HBP: Brandon Kretzinger, Drew Martin
SB: Tanner Farris 2, Brandon Kretzinger, Drew Martin 2, Ian Schneider

TotalsTeam QAB: 27 (52.94%)
Grant Davis 2, Tanner Farris 6, Garrett Fitzpatrick 3, Ben Fricke 3, Todd Kelly 5, Brandon Kretzinger 2, Drew Martin 3, Ian Schneider 3

Team LOB: 8FieldingE: Tanner Farris

Mount Pulaski

Pitching	IP	#P	S%	H	R	ER	SO	BB	HR
Tanner Farris	5	90	0.656	8	3	3	8	1	0
Drew Martin	1	28	0.643	0	0	0	4	1	0
Totals	7	118	0.653	8	3	3	12	2	0

PitchingW: Tanner Farris
WP: Tanner Farris
Pitches-Strikes: Tanner Farris 90-59, Drew Martin 28-18
Groundouts-Flyouts: Tanner Farris 3-4, Drew Martin 1-0
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Tanner Farris 15-26, Drew Martin 3-6

Hartem Batting

Lineup	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
Spencer Davis	4	1	2	0	0	1
Addam Hoerbert	4	1	2	0	0	1
Justin Cannon	4	0	0	1	0	0
Nate McAfee	3	1	2	1	1	1
Austin Hayes	4	0	0	0	0	2
Wyatt Hopkins	3	0	1	1	0	1
Noah Watts	3	0	0	0	0	2
Josh Wright	3	0	1	0	0	2
Connor Zinser	2	0	0	0	1	2
Totals	30	3	8	3	2	12

Batting2B: Wyatt Hopkins
TB: Addam Hoerbert 2, Josh Wright, Nate McAfee 2, Spencer Davis 2, Wyatt Hopkins 2
RBI: Justin Cannon, Nate McAfee, Wyatt Hopkins
ROE: Wyatt Hopkins
FC: Justin Cannon

TotalsTeam QAB: 16 (50.00%)
Addam Hoerbert 3, Austin Hayes, Connor Zinser 3, Josh Wright 3, Nate McAfee 2, Spencer Davis 2, Wyatt Hopkins 2

Team LOB: 8FieldingE: Connor Zinser

Pitching

Pitching	IP	#P	S%	H	R	ER	SO	BB	HR
Addam Hoerbert	3	70	0.557	4	4	4	3	4	0
Justin Cannon	2	68	0.676	9	8	5	5	2	0
Austin Hayes	0	12	0.167	1	4	4	0	2	0
Spencer Davis	1	32	0.656	4	6	6	3	1	1
Totals	7	182	0.593	#	22	19	11	9	1

PitchingL: Addam Hoerbert
HBP: Addam Hoerbert, Austin Hayes
WP: Addam Hoerbert
BK: Justin Cannon
Pitches-Strikes: Addam Hoerbert 70-39, Austin Hayes 12-2, Justin Cannon 68-46, Spencer Davis 32-21
Groundouts-Flyouts: Addam Hoerbert 3-3, Austin Hayes 0-0, Justin Cannon 1-2, Spencer Davis 0-0
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Addam Hoerbert 14-18, Austin Hayes 1-4, Justin Cannon 14-20, Spencer Davis 5-9

Coach Joel Washko was happy with the back-to-back wins the Hilltoppers have already posted this week. "It was good to see everyone hit today at Hartsburg. Just like yesterday, we had everyone contribute today and that was the best thing about the win. This game was only 6-3 after five innings, so scoring 16 runs in the last two innings tells me that we took some good at bats and took advantage of our opportunities."

Washko has reason to be pleased with his pitching staff as well. "Tanner Farris threw a nice game for us and Drew Martin came in and finished it out by throwing strikes. I thought we were pretty solid defensively again for the second straight game, which we will really need as we continue to move forward."

[Teena Lowery]