Baseball: Round Lake falls to Zion-Benton

Let's just call it rust for now.

After all, the ground is still partially frozen and it's chilly out and the season isn't even a week old.

Welcome to high school baseball in March in Illinois, where errors and walks were plentiful during the Round Lake Panthers' home date with Zion-Benton Wednesday.

Don't mistake it, both teams can score runs and the Zee-Bees held the advantage during a wild 16-14 victory in the first game of a twinbill.

"We gave some green lights and did well on the bases," said Panthers coach Ed Adamson, whose team slipped to 0-3 on the young season. "But we had way too many walks and left a lot of runs out there. We were struggling throwing strikes."

Zion-Benton (1-1) took advantage of those walks to the tune of three in the opening frame off Panther starter Wesley Daniels. A wild pitch and fielders choice accounted for the Bees' 2-0 lead after the top of the first.

Round Lake returned the favor in the bottom half of the frame, plating 4 runs themselves for a 4-2 advantage.

Wyatt Hill (balk) scored on a throwing error, while Jorge Contreras and Angel Cuevas came home on wild pitches. The fourth run was scored on a bases-loaded walk to Owen Hill, which plated Charlie Burton, who earlier singled.

Trailing 4-2, the Bees then plated 4 runs in the top of the second to jump back ahead 6-4.

Timmy Myers (walk) and Franklin Henry (walk) both scored on a single and error. Kent Shepard (single) also scored on a wild pitch.

But Round Lake wasn't going anywhere, scoring twice in the bottom of the second to knot things up 6-6.

"I was really happy the way we fought back and didn't hang our heads," added Adamson. "We never gave up. We just need to be more consistent with the bats and cut down on the walks."

Cuevas scored on an error while Connor Lee singled in Burton.

Zion took the lead for good when it plated 2 more runs in the top of the third off Panther reliever and losing pitcher Zachery Lee, who relieved starter Daniels in the second.

With one out, Zion's Myers trotted home on a bases-loaded walk to winning pitcher Armoni Contreras (1-1), who went four innings with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Henry then scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-6.

The Bees plated 3 more runs in the fifth and 5 more in the sixth to go ahead 16-6.

Then the offense got going for Round Lake, to the tune of 7 runs over the last three innings.

Cuevas reached on an error to score Hill. Cuevas then came home on a double by Burton. Then came Hair's bomb over the left-field fence, scoring Burton to make it 16-10.

"I had to redeem myself for that earlier error," said Hair, only a sophomore. "I just turned on it. Didn't know if it was out at first. A big relief when it went over."

Round Lake closed the gap to 16-14 in the bottom of the seventh when Bryant Porcayo scored on an error and Gio Cirelli came in on a fielders choice by Cuevas. The big hit and final Panther run came off the bat of Hair, who doubled in Contreras (single).

"He (Hair) hit two hard balls," said Adamson. "He has a bright future."