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St. Teresa chased Martin from the mound and he
was relieved by Tanner Farris. It didn't matter. The Bulldogs
were slugging base hits all over the field, finding every hole
and dropping the ball in. When the inning was over St. Teresa
had overtaken Mount Pulaski with a 9-8 lead. St. Teresa added
another run in the fifth inning and Mount Pulaski meanwhile
couldn't buy a base hit in the final innings.
The Hilltoppers were held scoreless in the final four innings
and despite swinging the bat well they were chased home with a
10-8 season-ending loss. Every ball hit hard by the Hilltoppers
in the final at-bats just seemed to land in the centerfielder's
glove.
A tough break for Mount Pulaski for sure but overall a great
season for the much-improved Hilltoppers. Without a single
senior on the team, Mount Pulaski's record was a respectable
11-13 on the season.
In the previous two seasons this group of spectacular juniors
managed just nine victories combined. Next year is their year.
With a healthy Logan DeRight on the horizon and fellow Juniors
Ben Fricke and Tanner Farris always working hard to better their
game, this trio will guide the team to a new level next season
without a doubt.
As for the final game of the season, a sophomore and a freshman
were key members of the offense. Todd Kelly was 2-for-5 with two
runs and two RBIs. Drew Martin was 2-for-5 with two runs and an
RBI. Martin slugged two doubles in the loss and his last at-bat
ended the game with a hard-hit ball that the centerfielder had
to chase down.
Kelly ends the season with a .347 batting average and his 25
hits were third on the team.
Martin ended with season with a .436 batting average and his 34
hits led the team.
Meanwhile Ben Fricke continued to frighten the opposing team. He
was 1-for-2 in the game and also reached base on a walk and an
error. His improvement each season has been incredible to watch
and one can only see greater things out of Fricke in his senior
year.
Fricke ends his junior year leading all of Central Illinois in
hitting with a .492 average. His 32 hits drove in 25 runs and he
led the area with 6 home runs. It was incredibly fun to watch
this young man step in the batter's box.
While Tanner Farris took another tough loss on the mound for
Mount Pulaski, the junior himself had two walks and two RBIs at
the plate versus St. Teresa. Farris ended the season batting
.288.
Grant Davis and Ian Schneider also had RBIs for the Hilltoppers
in loss versus St. Teresa.
Despite ending his season early, Logan DeRight finished with a
.303 batting average in just 13 games played.
Finally, one last positive season-ending quote from Mount
Pulaski Coach Joel Washko because that's just the way he rolls.
"I'm very proud of our group. We were dealt a difficult hand
with losing two starters to injury and a couple other potential
key kids to other things and our kids didn't make excuses. We
competed hard all year and made great strides as a program. I
feel like we are in a good position going into next year because
we had zero seniors this year and we will be a pretty
experienced team next year that should be hungry to prove what
we can do."
Congratulations to the Hilltoppers on a fine season.
[Teena Lowery]
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