ROCKTON—Early on in the season, Hononegah head coach Matt Simpson complimented first baseman Nicholas Santis for the exceptional amount of maturity the ballplayer showed despite being just a first-year starter.
The sophomore backed up his coach’s statement and then some on Monday evening.
Santis delivered the walk-off single in the eighth inning with a soft hit that fell in center field and scored Logan Edward for the 8-7 win against Freeport at Weber Field to stay undefeated at 7-0 in NIC-10 play.
“I missed two bunt (attempts), so I had to protect with two strikes,” Santis said. “I was just looking for a strike. I had to go up there confident, just looking to swing the bat with two strikes on me. And it worked out. It feels good.”
Simpson said that it was disappointing to see Santis strike out looking in his first two at-bats, an element that the coaching staff harps on avoiding, but encouraging to see the response.
“How tough Nick was mentally to come back and, despite not getting the two bunts down where if he does we're probably walking home with the speed that we had at third base, and then fighting off a tough pitch off the handle and just being strong enough to get it out into center field,” he added.
In the fourth, Santis came up with Austin Dresser at first and two outs. The sophomore whacked one into left field, where the fielder overthrew second base trying to get him out and sent him to third, where another errant throw sent Santis home to cut the Pretzels' lead to 7-6.
In the sixth, following a Bryce Ewing leadoff double, Santis battled with Freeport (13-7, 3-4 NIC-10) reliever Ryan Coon with two outs. He worked a full count and fouled off three pitches until he took first after being hit. Drake Broege walloped one past the shortstop in the next at-bat to tie it at seven.
“Nick has been really, really good for us all year on defense,” Simpson said. “And he's given us competitive at bats.”
Santis’ winning hit had been set up by Edward, who reached after his speed forced the Pretzels’ third baseman to bobble his bunt. The senior went to second on Ewing’s sacrifice bunt, and, after Landen Seymour was intentionally walked, moved to third when Austin Dresser was hit by a pitch.
“Bunting is a part of our game that has been absent this year,” Simpson said. “We've struggled to score runs in some games, and it's something that we got to get better at. Tonight might make them realize how important it can be.”
Freeport had jumped out to a 6-3 lead after two innings as Easton Stewart struggled in his start. He allowed five earned runs on five hits and two walks in 1 1-3 innings.
Reliever Ian Blankenship came in and, after allowing a two-run double charged to Stewart, he was knocked for a one-run single.
Another RBI single put the Indians (11-4-1) in a 7-3 deficit, but Blankenship settled in and didn’t allow another run as he finished with eight strikeouts while allowing five hits and two walks.
"Ian went in, hit his spots, threw strikes and just trusted his defense," senior Jakob DeLeo said. "That's all he had to do. He's a good pitcher who throws hard. He's got a good curveball, and that's all he needs.”
Blankenship was pulled with two on and two outs in the sixth after an error and walk. Jakob DeLeo walked the bases full but got a strikeout to escape unscathed.
DeLeo then allowed a leadoff walk in the seventh before notching three-straight strikeouts, and he worked around a two-out single and walk to strike out Jaelin Campbell and set up Santis’ winning hit.
“I just had to trust my defense,” said DeLeo, who went 2 1-3 frames and allowed just one hit and three walks while striking out six. “Towards the start, I was working way too fast. I just had to settle down and realized that my defense had my back. I just had to hit my spots.”
Seymour had helped Hononegah stay in it as he pulled off a double-steal with Broege to score in the first and smacked a two-run single in the second. DeLeo scored on a balk in the third.
"It's great hitting behind Landen and Austin," Santis said. "They're always on base and in scoring position, so I can get an RBI."
And Simpson echoed a sentiment he had made after an earlier win against Belvidere: that it is better to be discussing issues after a win than after a loss.
“We weren’t very good today, but we were resilient,” Simpson said. “We weren't very good with throwing strike one, we looked a little sluggish at times on defense in the field and some balls got by our catcher that normally don't get by. But, once we started putting up zeros, the confidence started coming and we did just enough offensively to get the win.”
• LINESCORE:
HONONEGAH 8, FREEPORT 7
Free 331 000 00 — 7 11 4
Hono 121 201 01 — 8 8 1
Leading hitters: Free, Coon 2x4, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Matz 2x5, 2 Runs, 3 RBI; N. Summers 2x4, 2 RBI; B. Summers 2x3, 1 Run. Hono, Seymour 1x3, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Santis 2x4, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Broege 1x3, 1 RBI; Dresser 1x4, 1 Run; DeLeo 1x4, 1 Run; Sayles 1x2, 1 Run.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Free, Arnold 4.0-4-6-5-3-7, Coon 3.1-4-2-1-1-4. Hono, Stewart 1.1-5-5-5-2-1, Blankenship 4.1-5-2-1-2-8, DeLeo 2.1-1-0-0-3-6.
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