Baseball: Burlington Central takes a tumble against Rockford Christian
The streak isn't dead, but it's on life support.
Burlington Central's baseball team has shared or outright won the Big Northern East title each of the past four seasons, but the Rockets will be hard pressed to extend that streak to five after Wednesday's 13-0, five-inning home loss to division leader Rockford Christian, which won the Class 2A state title last year.
The Royal Lions (24-3, 11-0) stayed atop the BN-East standings by collecting 10 hits and playing errorless defense behind all-state pitcher Alec Powell (5-0), who threw a 2-hitter.
"That's probably as well as we've played," Rockford Christian coach Mike McClellan said.
Meanwhile, the Rockets managed only 2 hits, committed 2 errors and issued 7 walks between three pitchers.
"This was a big anomaly," said Central coach Kyle Nelson, whose team slipped to 16-8 overall, 10-2 in league play. "We pitched in 2-1 counts and 1-0 and 2-1 and 3-1 a lot of the day. We walked a too few many guys and it just got away from us. Early in the game we actually hit a few balls hard but it got away from us on the mound. It happens."
Senior Craig Schuring (4-2) took the loss for the Rockets. The right-hander trailed 1-0 until Rockford Christian erupted in the third inning. The Royal Lions sent 13 men to the plate and scored 7 runs on 5 hits, 3 walks, a hit batsman and a throwing error.
Left-hander Joshua Rodriguez stepped in for Schuring after back-to-back, bases-loaded walks forced in runs to make it 5-0. The reliever was greeted by lefty hitting Braxton Santolino, who hit a 2-run single for a 7-0 lead.
The Royal Lions put the cherry on top in the fourth when No. 7 hitter Neil Thomas turned on a fastball and lined it over the right-field fence for a grand slam and a 12-0 lead.
"I tried to swing at a fastball and I missed, so I made an adjustment," said Thomas, who hit his first home run of the season. "He gave me a fastball right over the plate. I just stayed on it and took it for a ride."
Powell had little trouble stifling the Rockets, who entered the game hitting .281 as a team. He improved his two-year record to 15-0 by spotting a dazzling curveball between fastballs thrown low in the strike zone. He struck out 7, walked 3 and hit a batter.
"They're just another team in our way," said Powell, committed to Division-II Quincy. "We just come out, play who's in front of us and win 'em."
The Rockets still have a chance to split the title, albeit slim. They would have to beat Rockford Christian in the finale of the 2-game series on Thursday, win their final conference game against North Boone on Monday and hope for a split of next week's 2-game series between the Royal Lions and Richmond-Burton, which improved to 10-1 in league play Wednesday.
Rockford Christian will throw Nolan Gazsouski in the series finale, according to coach Mike McClellan. The 6-foot-7 right-hander recorded the final out of the state-title victory in relief last June.
The Rockets counter with senior Kyle Creadon (1-1), who owns a 0.67 ERA in 21 innings.
"It'll be a good challenge, but we'll play better," Nelson said.