Photo by Keith Stewart
Zak Hrvol listens as head coach Troy Rogers speaks just before putting the sophomore in at the mound during the third inning Tuesday. Hrvol went on to throw a mixed bag of pitches that helped cool off T-Town. Errors earlier in the game proved too many, however, as Sullivan fell 10-2.

Nine unearned runs cost Sullivan potential upset

by Kirk Whitaker
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter

Take away the second and third innings in the field against Teutopolis Tuesday and in the end, there would have been a 2-1 upset win for the Redskins against a perennial state power instead of a 10-2 loss; if only that would have happened.

A home run over the left centerfield wall was the only run in the first, and turned out to be the only earned run allowed by Sullivan in the game.

That was when the Redskin defensive woes that plagued them in losses to Cerro Gordo-Bement, Pana, and Mattoon returned.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.

The inning opened with a fly to left field and senior Griffin Sullivan that was misjudged, and that run was brought home on the first pitch of the next at-bat by a liner back up the box by the Shoes to double their lead.

Redskin pitcher Shane Atchison walked the next batter but forced a strikeout looking before another fly to left fell out of Sullivan’s grasp, bringing in the final two scores of the inning.

“Second and third innings we made some mistakes,” Redskins head coach Troy Rogers said. “If you make mistakes against a team like T-Town, it won’t be pretty. I am proud of both our pitchers today, especially Shane, because he kept doing his thing even though the defense wasn’t playing well behind him.”

Then things went from bad to worse.

The third started off with the first three batters reaching base—by error, walk, and single respectively—before a hard grounder to second went through Dylan Hart, bringing in two. Back-to-back singles would bring in the remaining thus chasing Atchison from the game, and bringing in sophomore Zac Hrvol. Two more runs charged to Atchison scored in the visitor’s half of the third, and it looked as if the mercy rule would be enacted after two more innings of play.

To that point in the game, the Redskins had been held hitless and the only base runner was Alec Ballenger who drew a walk in Sullivan’s first at-bat.

With two down in the fourth, the Redskins got some offense going.

Dakota Clayton hit a shot to the left centerfield wall and was promptly brought home by Levi Nadler on the ensuing pitch. Nadler took an off-speed pitch down the left-field line, switching places with Clayton at second, but that would be where he stayed.

“We battled back and started to get some good at-bats together, and we got back-to-back doubles,” Rogers stated. “We had some scoring opportunities late, now what we have to do is get our defense together.”

The Sullivan defense then picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and played together the rest of the way. Hrvol allowed no more runs and the only other run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh with Atchison drawing a bases-loaded walk, which would have been a walk-off win if no errors had occurred, but in reality it was a 10-2 loss.

“Hrvol did an amazing job of pitching, and the defense stepped up,” Rogers said. “He mixed speed and shut them down the rest of the way. I told the guys if we didn’t have any errors, we would have just won a 2-1 game because nine of their 10 runs were unearned. It is tough to hit when its cold, but we have also faced some really tough pitchers—Gross from Cerro Gordo, Pana’s two best, and of course Mattoon—but we are learning how to grind out at-bats, that will help.”

Sullivan travels to Arcola Thursday before participating in the Clinton Classic this weekend, taking on Champaign Central, Lexington, and Clinton respectively.

Stats: Pitching: Atchison: 2 IP, 1K, 3 BB, 1 ER, 9 UER; Hrvol: 5 IP, 3 K; D. Clayton: 1-4, 2B; L. Nadler: 1-4, 2B, 1 RBI; J. Piper: 1-4, 1B; G. Sullivan: 1-4, 1B