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Hilltoppers clinch Regional Baseball Championship over Decatur St.
Teresa
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 [May 21, 2019]
The Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers
Baseball Team made May 18, 2019, a day to remember. The boys
defeated Decatur St. Teresa 10-7 for the Class 1A Regional
Baseball Championship on Saturday, which was also graduation day
at Mount Pulaski High School.
Game time was 10 a.m. at
Veteran's Park and since the game ran a bit long and the players
had to be at the school by 1 p.m. for pictures, well they all
decided to just go to graduation wearing their baseball
uniforms.
The five seniors who have
experienced the lows and now highs of Hilltopper baseball ~
Tanner Farris, Ben Fricke, Logan DeRight, Jonathan Shehorn and
Ian Schneider.
For the five seniors, they just
tossed their graduation gowns on over their uniforms while the
rest of the team sat in the bleachers of Ed Butkovich Gymnasium,
smiling, with dirt and dried sweat still intact.
Senior Ben Fricke even said
following the win, "It's pretty bad when graduation isn't even
the highlight of your day."
The highlight of the day was
indeed the come-from-behind win the Hilltoppers earned
with senior Logan DeRight on the mound. Decatur St. Teresa
tagged Mount Pulaski starter Drew Martin for five runs in the
top of the third inning to break a scoreless game, but it didn't
take the Hilltoppers long to get even.
In the bottom of the third
inning, Lucas Kuhlman led off with a line drive double to right
field. Jonathan Shehorn stepped in the batter's box and quickly
tagged the St. Teresa starting pitcher, Kolby Osborne, for a
single to right field. With the top of the order coming up for
Mount Pulaski, things were looking good. Todd Kelly got tagged
by the pitch and he took a walk down to first base to load the
bases. Drew Martin grounded out but that scored Kuhlman from
third with the first Hilltopper run of the game. A walk to
Logan DeRight loaded the bases again and this time it was
catcher Ben Fricke making noise with the lumber and crushing a
two-run double that scored Shehorn and Kelly. Tanner Farris then
drew a walk and that base on balls loaded the bases again.
Following a strikeout of Grant Davis, Garrett Fitzpatrick
stepped to the plate with two outs. Fitzpatrick sent a drive
down the left field line that scored DeRight and Fricke and just
like that it was a brand new ballgame, all tied up 5-5. The Hilltoppers batted
around in that third inning, with Kuhlman making the last out.
St. Teresa took a one-run lead
over Mount Pulaski in the top of the fourth inning, but that was
short-lived. In the bottom of the fourth the Hilltoppers were
right back in the swing of things with Shehorn leading off with
a double to right field. Martin slugged his own double to score
Shehorn and tie the game 6-6. The Hilltoppers would eventually
take the lead on a wild pitch that scored Martin. Following an
error by the Bulldogs, the Hilltoppers stretched the lead to
8-6.
Mount Pulaski would tack on two
more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Kuhlman's bat was
still sizzling and he opened the inning with a single. Shehorn
was due up next and he laid down a perfect bunt to advance
Kuhlman to second. After a walk to Martin, DeRight sent a line
drive double to left field that allowed both Kuhlman and Martin
to come racing home. Mount Pulaski took a 10-6 lead over the
Bulldogs off reliever Hayden Sheehan.
St. Teresa scored a run off
DeRight in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Ethan
Spain, but no further damage was done.
[to top of second column] |
DeRight was dealing like Clayton
Kershaw in the top of the seventh inning and retired the side on
a grounder to third base, a pop out to right field and finally a
fly ball to center that was snagged by Tanner Farris. After
Farris made the game-ending catch and ran in for the celebration
he admitted to feeling like Allen Craig from the 2011 World
Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Craig made the game-ending catch
for the Cardinals off the bat of David Murphy of the Texas
Rangers in Game 7 to give St. Louis their 11th World Series
title.
Meanwhile back in Mount Pulaski, it was a
10-7 Regional Championship win captured by the Hilltoppers
and there is still a lot of work to be done.
Give credit to Logan DeRight for
being the workhorse on the mound. DeRight came in and shut down
the Bulldogs in relief. He worked four and two-thirds innings,
allowing two runs on three hits and striking out seven batters.
The senior earned the hard-fought win.
Freshman Lucas Kuhlman led Mount
Pulaski at the plate. Kuhlman was 3-for-4 for the Hilltoppers.
In fact, the bottom trio in the
lineup was key in Saturday's win and their contributions at the
plate made a huge difference.
Coach Joel Washko was quick to
credit his entire team following the win. "Saturday's regional
title win was the definition of a true team win. Every single
guy had a hand in us being successful. We had our 7,8,9 hitters
go a combined 6-for-11 on the day with key at bats. Several nice
plays in the field by our defense and also a great relief
pitching performance from Logan DeRight. This was a goal these
guys set for themselves before the season and I am so proud
of their achievement. Not just because they won the regional,
but more so because they worked so hard to make this a reality."
Washko added, "Being down 5-0 is
not great but when our kids came in after falling behind I could
see they were confident they would come back. Sure enough
they were able to do that in one inning. They were poised and
calm the entire time."
Kolby Osborne suffered the loss
for St. Teresa.
The Hilltoppers (22-5) advance
to the Class 1A Sectional at Danville Schlarman on Wednesday.
Mount Pulaski is set to play Cissna Park at 6:30 p.m.
The regional championship win
was coincidentally mentioned by Mr. Benjamin Fricke at the end
of his opening remarks at graduation and of course the
gym erupted in applause. You just can't write a better script.
[Teena Lowery]
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Batting2B: Ethan
Spain
TB: Michael Martini, Ethan Spain 3,
Connor Reynolds
RBI: Jacob Bryles, Ethan Spain 3,
Connor Reynolds, Jake Blackburn
ROE: Chord Miller, Michael
Martini
FC: Chord Miller
HBP: Michael Martini, Seth
Gillespey 2
SB: Jacob Bryles, Ethan Spain
CS: Jake Blackburn
TotalsTeam
QAB: 19 (48.72%)
Charlie Blackburn 2,
Chord Miller 2,
Michael Martini, Kolby Osborne, Jacob Bryles 4,
Ethan Spain 3,
Seth Gillespey, Connor Reynolds 2,
Jake Blackburn 3
Team LOB: 11FieldingE: Michael
Martini
Batting2B: Jonathan
Shehorn, Logan DeRight, Ben Fricke, Drew Martin, Lucas
Kuhlman
3B: Drew Martin
TB: Jonathan Shehorn 3,
Garrett Fitzpatrick, Logan DeRight 2,
Ben Fricke 2,
Drew Martin 5,
Lucas Kuhlman 4
RBI: Garrett Fitzpatrick 2,
Logan DeRight 2,
Ben Fricke 2,
Drew Martin 2
SAC: Jonathan Shehorn
ROE: Grant Davis
FC: Logan DeRight
HBP: Todd Kelly, Tanner Farris
SB: Drew Martin, Tanner Farris
TotalsTeam
QAB: 23 (62.16%)
Jonathan Shehorn 3,
Garrett Fitzpatrick, Grant Davis 2,
Logan DeRight 3,
Ben Fricke 2,
Drew Martin 3,
Todd Kelly 4,
Tanner Farris 2,
Lucas Kuhlman 3
Team LOB: 9FieldingE: Jonathan
Shehorn, Garrett Fitzpatrick
|
Pitching |
IP |
#P |
S% |
H |
R |
ER |
SO |
BB |
HR |
|
Kolby Osborne |
4.0 |
89 |
.573 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
|
Hayden Sheehan |
2.0 |
54 |
.630 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
Totals |
6.0 |
143 |
.594 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
5 |
6 |
0 |
PitchingL: Kolby
Osborne
HBP: Kolby Osborne, Hayden
Sheehan
WP: Kolby Osborne
Pitches-Strikes: Kolby Osborne 89-51,
Hayden Sheehan 54-34
Groundouts-Flyouts: Kolby Osborne 2-5,
Hayden Sheehan 2-3
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Kolby
Osborne 14-25,
Hayden Sheehan 6-12
|
Pitching |
IP |
#P |
S% |
H |
R |
ER |
SO |
BB |
HR |
|
Drew Martin |
2.1 |
60 |
.417 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
|
Logan DeRight |
4.2 |
99 |
.505 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
0 |
|
Totals |
7.0 |
159 |
.472 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
9 |
10 |
0 |
PitchingW: Logan
DeRight
HBP: Logan DeRight, Drew Martin 2
WP: Drew Martin 2
BK: Logan DeRight
Pitches-Strikes: Logan DeRight 99-50,
Drew Martin 60-25
Groundouts-Flyouts: Logan DeRight 3-4,
Drew Martin 2-1
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Logan
DeRight 14-24,
Drew Martin 7-15
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