NORTH ROBINSON — The baseball game between Northern 10 Athletic Conference and county rivals Colonel Crawford and Wynford had it all Wednesday night.
When the smoke cleared, the host Eagles, thanks to an RBI single by sophomore Austin Kelly in the bottom of the ninth, defeated the Royals 6-5.
Kelly hit a single to center field to plate Micah Thomas, who had reached base via a walk and had advanced on a fielder’s choice.
Crawford head coach Dan Gorbett credited his team with an excellent performance, starting with his pitcher, Nick Eachus.
“The story of the game is Nick Eachus. That’s a really good hitting team and he did a good job. You’re not going to shut them down. That was a gut-check on his part. He kept saying, ‘Don’t take me out. Don’t take me out.’ But he was maxed out on his pitch count.
“It was just an awesome job. That’s what you call senior leadership.”
“The kids just never quit. We’re a young team and we’ve been managed to get better every day. It’s a great team we beat today, and this is a huge win for a young team that’s trying to get better. It’s our signature win so far this year,” he said.
Eachus struck out six and walked five Royals but pitched out of several tough jams.
“Nick just kept holding the batter and all four of his pitches were precise. Once we learned not to pitch to (Grant) McGuire, it helped us a lot.”
McGuire, Wynford’s standout third baseman, homered in the first inning and doubled in the fourth to give the Royals a 3-2 advantage. He was then intentionally walked in his next three at-bats.
The win also evened the teams for the week, with Wynford winning 10-1 at home on Tuesday.
“Sam (Collene) also pitched a good game,” Gorbett said.
Collene fanned six and issued one free pass in 7 and 2/3 innings. He was relieved by Wes Prenger, who suffered the loss as he entered the game with a 5-5 tie.
Gorbett felt a turning point was an amazingly unusual double play his team pulled off in the top of the sixth.
Collene started the inning with a walk and Drew Johnson then lined an opposite field double to left, but both runners got caught in rundowns and were tagged out. Instead of having two runners on and no outs, it was two outs and the bases empty.
“We work on rundowns a lot, actually. We were talking about that. That’s something, one of those little things in baseball, where people mess it up.”
No fewer than five Eagles were involved in the double play, including the left fielder, catcher, pitcher and two infielders.
After that, freshman Collen Hulsmeyer singled to right, but the next batter was retired and Wynford failed to score.
Wynford head coach Tom Smith knew his team hurt itself on several occasions.
“We didn’t execute at all. We had a lot of stupid plays and mistakes. We didn’t play smart,” he said.
Junior Jacob Lucius, who had struck out three times previously and four times on the afternoon, slapped a double to tie the game at 5-5 in the home half of the seventh.
“That was big. They walked a couple guys and then we get that hit and get two runs across. There are games where your youth comes to the surface,” Gorbett said.
“Hopefully, today is a big confidence builder for us. Austin is our number seven hitter coming up with a clutch hit there. My heart is still pounding right now.”
Kaiden Blair’s single and McGuire’s blast gave the Royals a lead they would hold most of the game. Colonel Crawford (11-6, 7-3 N10) nibbled away, scoring solo runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings.
An Eagles infield error helped Wynford (12-5, 6-4) with a run in the third after Brennan Hamilton’s single.
One day made a huge difference in all aspects of Wynford’s play.
“Sam pitched well. Other than a couple walks that cost him, he pitched a good game. We had a lot of energy yesterday. We hit better and fielded better yesterday, just everything.
“Might be the worst game we played all year, or close. We got Edison tomorrow, so there’s no let-up,” Smith said. “We gotta go up there and play a state runner-up team and go from there.”
For the Eagles, they are ready for Northmor and the remainder of the season.
“We’ve beaten all the teams we should beat. Now we got over that hump of beating a really good team,” Gorbett said.
Box score
Wynford 200 100 200 5 8 4
Colonel Crawford 001 011 021 6 6 2
WP: Nick Eachus (6 SO, 5 W)
LP: Wes Prenger (1 SO, 0 W)
HR: (W) Grant McGuire (2-run, first inning).
Triples: None.
Doubles: (W) Grant McGuire, Drew Johnson; (CC) Jacob Lucius.
Multiple hits: (W) Drew Johnson 3, Grant McGuire; (CC) Van Winterstellar.
Records: Wynford 12-5, 6-4 N10; Colonel Crawford 11-6, 7-3 N10.
Next: Wynford at Milan Edison, Thursday; Northmor at Colonel Crawford, Thursday.