Hilltoppers tear through Tornadoes 12-2 on the baseball diamond

[May 08, 2018] 

The Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers got the best of the Tri-City Tornadoes on Monday afternoon at Robert L. Gasaway Field. The Tornadoes may have struck first but in the end it was Mount Pulaski doing the most damage.

Tri-City scored a run in the top of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead but after the Hilltoppers started scoring in the bottom of the third inning they never let up. Mount Pulaski scored twice in the third inning, four times in the fourth inning and once more in the bottom of the fifth inning before blowing the Tornadoes away in the bottom of the sixth inning. A five-run sixth inning allowed the home team to 10-run rule the visitors and just like that the Tornadoes themselves were running for shelter. The final was 12-2.

Ian Schneider crosses home plate at record speed with the final run of the game as the Hilltoppers crushed the Tornadoes 12-2.

Mount Pulaski pounded out 10 hits in the win and did not commit a single error in the field.

Offensively it was Todd Kelly, Drew Martin and Ben Fricke each getting two hits for the Hilltoppers. Kelly and Martin each smashed triples.

Martin and Fricke each connected for doubles AND it was Fricke again in the bottom of the sixth inning swinging for the fences and coming up with his fourth home run on the season. The junior had just missed a home run earlier in the game when the ball hit off the top of the fence. Dad Nathan fetched this home run ball on his own and saved himself five bucks (he usually pays a little kid to run after it but all the kids were in the dugout going bananas cheering the leading home run hitter on). The elder Fricke did make it back from his journey before the game ended so that was good. In his defense he had a long way to go to find this ball. It was crushed.

Drew Martin got the win for the Hilltoppers. He tossed six innings and gave up just three hits. He allowed two runs, only one of which was earned, and he struck out 11 batters. Martin walked four batters despite having 17 first-pitch strikes.

Coach Joel Washko talks to his team following the win. The Hilltoppers are outnumbered by a younger group of ballplayers who sat in listening to every word.

Mount Pulaski Coach Joel Washko was pleased to see his team get over the .500 mark. The Hilltoppers record is much improved from last season when the wins were barely in the single digits. This season the team is 11-10 and without a single senior on the roster, look out next year.

"It was good to get back on track today after not playing real well last week," said Coach Washko. "We got a great start on the mound from Drew Martin (Complete game: 3 hits, 2 runs, 11K, 4BB). They weren't able to square the ball off of him and he was able to draw a lot of soft contact. Our at bats were much better than they were last week as well. Kelly, Fricke, and Martin all had two hits and 7 out of 9 guys in the lineup had at least one hit. Fricke just barely missed having a two home run game and Todd Kelly had a big hit early that got us going. Drew stung the ball a couple times as well. As a team, I think we really wore their pitchers down as we saw a lot of pitches and drew walks all night. Tri-City is a young team, but they have been playing much better as of late, so I am happy to come away with a win."

Mount Pulaski Hitting Stats Versus Tri-City

Todd Kelly 2-for-3 with 2 runs 4 RBIs
Brandon Kretzinger 1 RBI
Drew Martin 2-for-3 1 run
Ben Fricke 2-for-3 1 run 2 RBIs
Tanner Farris 1-for-2 1 run 1 RBI
Grant Davis 1-for-2 2 runs
Austin Killion 1-for-3 2 runs
Ian Schneider 1-for-2 2 runs 1 RBI
Dawson Combs 1 run 1 RBI

Mount Pulaski plays at Havana on Wednesday and at Warrensburg-Latham on Friday. The Hilltoppers will begin regional action next week.

[Teena Lowery]