Baseball: Stevenson on target against Schliesmann, Hersey

Hersey right-hander Adam Schliesmann outpitched his grandfather Saturday.

He knew he wasn't going to outshine him, however.

During a pregame ceremony on Military Day at Stevenson's baseball field, Schliesmann's grandpa was one of six retired military men to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.

"He one-hopped it," Schliesmann said, smiling. "It was pretty cool, though."

"The President one-hopped it too," noted Schliesmann's grandpa, who served the U.S. Army in West Berlin, Germany during the Cold War in the late 1950s. "At least we got it there."

While Schliesmann's grandfather left Lincolnshire with a souvenir baseball, which his grandson and his teammates autographed, Stevenson walked away with a victory.

The Patriots jumped on lefty starter Brendan Stonequist early en route to a 9-4 nonconference win in front of a big crowd on a sun-splashed day.

Robbie McGaha was 2-for-4 with an RBI double and 2 runs scored for Stevenson, which improved to 10-3-1. Michael Kingery pitched 4-plus innings to earn the win, allowing 4 runs (two earned).

"Our pitching's been phenomenal all year," McGaha said. "When our hitting's not there, our pitching keeps us up. Our defense has been really good too."

Both teams wore camouflage jerseys with their school colors. Stevenson teacher Dino Moran, a former underlevel baseball coach for the Patriots and an ex-Marine, organizes the annual game. He used to coach at Hersey with current head coach Bob Huber.

"A zillion years ago," Huber said. "Hated to lose him."

Schliesmann pitched 4 innings in relief, showing good command of his fastball and curveball while allowing only 1 run and 3 hits. He missed all of last season after breaking his right ankle playing basketball.

"Hopefully he figures it out for us because he can be a big help for us," Huber said of Schliesmann, who had a start in Georgia over spring break.

Stevenson stole seven bases, including three by Indiana-bound Pat Loeffler (2 RBI, 2 walks, 2 runs), in eight attempts.

"That's how we like to do things," McGaha said. "We like to put pressure on (the opponent) and take as many bases as we can. If you see a ball in the dirt, take the base."

"One of the advantages we have is that everybody in the lineup can run," Stevenson coach Pat Block said. "We don't have much power. So we rely on a lot of speed and base hits."

Block lifted Kingery after Tyler Haffey led off the Hersey fifth with a single. The Huskies did all of their scoring in the third, as 2 errors, a walk and RBI singles by Paul Tokar and Alberto Garcia helped produce 4 runs.

Lefty Logan Lavelle and Danny Lubelfeld combined to pitch 3 scoreless innings in relief for Stevenson.

"(Kingery) has pitched well all year," Block said. "He pitched well today. He kept the ball down."

Stevenson took advantage of 2 errors to score twice on no hits in the first against Stonequist. The Patriots erupted for 6 runs in third to erase a 4-2 deficit. They got a two-run double from Dylan Molek, McGaha's hustle double that knocked in a run, and RBI singles from Christian Dutler and Brandon Grant.

Luke Lasalvia and Tom Barnes had doubles for Hersey, which committed 3 errors in falling to 3-8.

"We're certainly capable of playing much better than this," Huber said. "But this level of play has been fairly consistent from us this year. Which has been very disappointing."