BELOIT — When opportunity knocked on Wednesday night, the Beloit Senior Legion Bandits gladly answered.
Beloit took advantage of an error, two walks and a hit batter to help surge ahead for a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and put the game away for good in the sixth, a three-run inning that started with a trio of walks.
And the Bandits moved to 2-0 in the AAA Region 6 tournament hosted on its home diamond at the YMCA Youth Sports Complex with a 10-1 win over Racine on a cooler and cloudy evening.
“I always tell these guys that if we play smart, we’ll be awfully good,” said coach Rick Mitchell, who was filling in for manager Brad Farrell due to personal reasons. “And I told them, ‘Hey, if we get on these guys early — they got home late last night. They had to drive over here again today, and we’re right here in town. So, you get up on them early.’”
That’s exactly what the Bandits (8-3) did.
Jayden Piccione reached on an error to begin the game and stole second. An out later, Andy Buckley sent a single into left field to set up Carston Jacobson’s two-run single to center.
Brooks Mitchell singled in the next-at bat and, following a fielder’s choice, Hayden Frey walked to load the bases. Noah Pfundheller drew a bases-loaded walk and Mitch Stuessy was hit with the bags full to make it 4-0 off Steelheads’ starter Evan Hruby, who was pulled there after.
“Coming out and scoring a lot of runs early really helped us,” Jacobson said. “Playing with the lead helps, and it carried us through the whole game.”
Racine’s pitching tightened up after the first frame, and the Bandits were limited to a Brayden Ward walk in the third and a Piccione single in the fourth before leaving the bases full in the fifth.
No matter, the Bandits’ pitching staff was executing more than well enough to survive a brief offensive lull.
Jacobson took the start and walked just one batter while striking out four in 2 1-3 scoreless innings.
“I feel like my off-speed really worked well today,” the righty said. “And then fastball up in the zone and getting the curveball and slider really moving, changed their eye level and got them off guard.”
Mitchell had to be mindful of the number of pitches his arms used, with rules stating that more than 45 pitches an outing requires a full day of rest.
Stuessy came in and allowed an earned run in the fourth after Dylan Hayek walked and scored on Nate Callis’ RBI single two outs later. But the Beloit Memorial product kept the Bandits in front as he struck out two.
Ethan Halon then came in and slammed the door for the Bandits, striking out the first three batters he faced and allowing just a walk and single in 2 2-3 scoreless innings. He struck out five to bring Beloit’s total to 11.
“It’s just nice being able to know that you have guys that can go in there and throw,” second baseman Brooks Mitchell said. “We have a good defense. So, having a guy that can just go up there and let us make plays while also strike guys out? Super nice. There’s a level of comfortability when you play behind those guys. It makes the game a whole lot easier.”
Beloit’s offense finally struck again in the sixth. Piccione, Brody Berg and Buckley all drew consecutive walks off Callis before Jacobson whacked a two-run single back up the middle off Cameron Porcaro to make it 6-1.
“CJ comes out hot every game,” Mitchell said. “It doesn’t matter who’s pitching or what team it is. Every game he comes out with the same intensity and it pays off every time.”
Jacobson finished 3-for-5 from the plate with four RBI.
“I was seeing the ball nicely and just getting my hands through the ball, hitting it hard,” he said.
Mitchell reached on a bunt single and Ward made it 7-1 with a sacrifice fly to left.
Beloit put the game into the double-digits as Berg laced an RBI single and Mitchell whacked a two-run single in the seventh.
Mitchell finished 4-for-5 from the plate with two RBI.
“Being behind CJ — hitting is contagious,” he said. “Every time he got a hit up there, I’m going up and I want to get a hit. The whole team hitting and playing well, it’s just really fun. And I’m able to go up there and relax knowing I got the guys behind my back.”
The offensive outburst, which included 11 hits, comes one night after the Bandits walloped Lake Geneva 11-0.
“Lately we’ve been a lot more aggressive with the bats” Jacobson said. “Just putting our bat on the ball, getting good contact, finding gaps and being aggressive on the bases, too.”
Matthew Karvelas paced Racine with three hits and two stolen bases.
Coach Mitchell also emphasized the importance of the Bandits’ defense, which played a clean game.
“If the ball gets hit to us we’ve got probably about a 99.5% chance of making that play,” he said. “I don’t think there’s too many games we’ve had this year where we even had multiple errors. So, we tell our pitchers to be confident, throw strikes and let them hit the ball to our defense. I can’t remember the last time a ball got hit over somebody’s head because we’re quick enough out there to run things down. And in the infield, we’re pretty tough up the middle with Brooks and Andy Buckley And and Brody Berg behind the plate? That’s a pretty good trifecta right there.”
The Bandits will next face the winner between Janesville and Milwaukee, whose game was not over in time for this paper’s publication, on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Should Beloit win, it would only need to win again on Friday to clinch a state berth. If the Bandits lose on Thursday, they would need to win both Friday and Saturday to advance to the AAA State Tournament.
For a player like Mitchell, it’s a chance for a bit of redemption after Beloit dropped two quick games last summer in the regional tournament and was eliminated.
“For a lot of us younger guys on last year’s team, we didn’t play all that much,” he said. “We all got playing time but it wasn’t as much as we hoped. So, this year being our last season, we go out there and we just want it. Playing these teams we’ve played, we know we can compete, we know we can win. We just have to go out there and do our thing.”
• LINESCORE:
BELOIT 10, RACINE 1
Beloit 400 003 3 — 10 11 0
Racine 000 100 0 — 1 4 1
Leading hitters: Beloit, Piccione 1x3, 3 Runs; Berg 1x4, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; Buckley 1x3, 3 Runs; Jacobson 3x5, 4 RBI; Mitchell 4x5, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Ward 0x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Pfundheller 1x2, 1 RBI. Racine, Karvelas 3x4; Callis 1x3.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Elk, Siegler 6.0-4-1-1-0-0. BM, Cleland 7.0-2-0-0-1-1.
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