Elgin hammers out split with Sycamore
If Saturday’s season-opening doubleheader split is any indication, a 4-run lead won’t be safe against the Elgin baseball team.
The Maroons won the first game against Sycamore 7-4 by using a 7-run fourth inning to overcome a 4-0 deficit. They dropped the second game 10-8 in eight innings despite rallying for 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie it 7-7.
“We told the guys it’s a 14-inning day, so no matter what happens in the first three or four innings you have to play seven each time,” Elgin coach David Foerster said. “I think they bought into that and they never hung their heads early when we were down in both games. They just kept battling. We play hard and when you play hard a lot of good things can happen.”
Elgin (1-1) was a patient bunch, drawing 9 walks in each game.
“I don’t even want to look at the numbers,” said 15-year Sycamore coach Jason Cavanaugh. “I don’t ever remember us doing that.”
Walks contributed greatly to Elgin’s Game 1 comeback. The Maroons drew 3 bases on balls to fuel their big fourth inning. No 2 hitter Derek Strohmaier and No. 3 hitter Jake Bartelt drew back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to knot the score at 4-4.
Chris Edwards scored from third on a wild pitch to give Elgin its first lead, and senior catcher Gage Teschner extended it with a 2-run single, his second knock of the inning.
“Everyone tried to battle back and do their part,” said Teschner, who went 5-for-8 with a walk and 3 RBI in the doubleheader. “We just try to get on base the best we can.”
The 7-run rally made a winner of starting pitcher Alex Doty, who left after 4 innings because he reached his predetermined, 60-pitch limit. Doty was touched for 2 runs in each of the first two innings, including a 2-run home run by Sycamore’s Jordan Mitchell, but he retired the Spartans in order in the third and the fourth. Doty struck out 5 without a walk and allowed 3 earned runs.
“It’s really nice to be able to rely on my offense like that,” Doty said. “A 7-spot in the fourth? That was really nice. Things are definitely different. It takes a lot of pressure off me.”
Sophomore Kiko Mari threw 2 innings of scoreless relief, and Eric Daly retired Sycamore (1-2) in order in the seventh to earn the save. Daly struck out the last two hitters he faced on knee-bending hooks.
The Maroons trailed 7-2 in Game 2, but they got a run back in the fifth inning on Strohmaier’s single.
Trailing 7-3 against reliever Matt Godinsky in the seventh inning, Elgin stayed patient. Strohmaier and Bartlelt led off with consecutive walks, and a Sycamore error on a potential double-play ball loaded the bases.
Devin Simon and Ben Nelson each singled in runs, and Chris Edwards drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game before a strikeout sent it to extra innings.
However, Sycamore scored 3 runs in the top of the eighth against eventual losing pitcher Eric Sedlack. Nate Haacker broke the tie with a run-scoring double, Curtis Swartzendruber singled home a run and Clark O’Donnell’s groundout drove in another.
The Maroons had one last rally in them, but it fell 2 runs short. Jake Bartelt scored from third on an error in the outfield, but Godinsky escaped a bases-loaded jam by inducing a sharp one-hopper back to the mound from Nelson to end the game.
Godinsky got the win despite allowing 5 runs (3 earned) on 3 hits with 6 walks in 2 innings of relief.
The Maroons piled up 11 hits (all singles) to go with their 9 walks in Game 2, but they stranded 13 men on base, 11 in scoring position.
“More positives than negatives,” Foerster said of opening day. “We can definitely build off this, but there’s room to improve. I think we’re in a good spot.”