ROCKTON—For a game featuring the top two teams in NIC-10, it wasn’t the cleanest of games from either side.
Unfortunately for the Hononegah baseball team, Rockford Boylan’s bats more than made up for any miscues on its side as the Titans took over sole possession of first place in the conference with a 20-9 win at Weber Field on Tuesday.
“You’re gonna have days where it’s tough to get outs, and that was obviously today,” Indians’ head coach Matt Simpson said. “We didn't put up a zero in any of the six innings we played. When our pitchers were around the zone, they put a lot of balls in play.”
Both squads had come into Tuesday’s contest tied atop the standings with 12-0 records.
“It's been a rivalry for 20-something years,” Boylan head coach Matt Weber said. “They've smacked us and we've smacked them. We talked about our approaches and just being disciplined. It's one of those days where it's just contagious. A couple guys early in the game had some long at-bats, had some good swings, and it just takes the pressure off the guys as you go through the lineup.”
The Titans (17-8, 13-0) set the tone early as it poured on seven runs in the first inning on three different Hononegah pitchers. Austin Alonso and Nico Contreas each hit two-run singles in the big frame as the Indians (18-6, 12-1) issued three walks and allowed five hits.
“The biggest thing is that (Boylan has) competitive kids,” Simpson said. “They're going to go up there and they're going to fight in every at bat. We're both kind of gritty teams that have to do a lot of the little things right. And they did a lot more of those things right tonight than we did.”
Hononegah answered by drawing four-straight walks in the bottom of the first before Jakob DeLeo hit a one-run single and Evan Sayles had an RBI fielder’s choice.
But Logan Edward hit a lineout and Sayles was doubled off of the second base to help Boylan starter Henry Berg escape the jam.
“That really changed the game,” Simpson said. “As bad as the top of the first went, they let us right back in the game in the bottom of the first. And then we let them off the hook with some poor base running. We had a chance to chase their starter and then all of a sudden he got locked in a little bit more and got them through (3 2-3) innings, which was big.”
It was one of several base-running mistakes for the Indians, who also committed three errors in the field.
“There were some fly balls that fell in and some ground balls that we normally get outs on,” Simpson said. “And then when our defense was making plays, then we were walking guys. It was just like we couldn't get in sync.”
Boylan overcame four errors and a few miscues of their own on the basepaths to rack up 18 hits off six different pitchers. It scored five runs in the fourth and four in the sixth to end the game via the mercy rule.
“(Hononegah’s) biggest thing is first pitch strikes,” Weber said. “And so we talked with our guys about getting up there, getting in the box, being ready to hit if they give you something and taking good swings. If they don't (give you something), make them work.”
Boylan drew seven walks but the Indians had the same number of bases on balls. Hononegah scored four in the fourth inning off a two-run double from Austin Dresser and an RBI single by Nicholas Santis.
“We put the ball in play, which is a good thing,” Simpson said. “But, I talked to them after the game about how your approach has to change when you're down seven runs. You still want to be aggressive, but you don't want to have a bunch of one pitch outs. In the second inning, we started with two pitches, two outs. We had (Berg’s) pitch count rising and we gave him two quick outs. They put up a zero there and that really changed the game.”
Hononegah will make the trip down to Rockford on Wednesday in hopes of splitting the series and putting itself in position to share the NIC-10 title.
“Hononegah is a good program,” Weber said. “If we go home today thinking that they're going to lay down on Wednesday, then we're going to be in for a rude awakening.”
“Our pitching has not been great,” Simpson said. We have to figure out what's going on. We're losing command of our off-speed stuff. We get back in the zone with that and we'll be fine.”
• LINESCORE:
ROCKFORD BOYLAN 20, HONONEGAH 9 (6)
RB 721 514 — 20 18 4
Hono 300 411 — 9 5 3
Leading hitters: RB, Alonso 3x3, 3 Runs, 4 RBI; Nowling 3x5, 2 Runs, 2 RBI; Berg 2x5, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Contreras 2x5, 2 Runs, 3 RBI. Hono, DeLeo 2x4, 1 RBI; Dresser 1x3, 2 Runs, 2 RBI; Santis 1x3, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; Sayles 1x3, 2 Runs, 1 RBI.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): RB, Berg 3.2-3-7-7-6-1, Schultz 1.2-1-2-1-2-0, Scandroli 0.2-1-0-0-0-0. Hono, Mabie 0.1-3-6-5-2-0, Stewart 0.0-2-1-1-1-0, Koch 3.0-8-6-5-0-1, Nelson 0.2-1-3-3-2-1, Santis 1.0-3-3-3-1-0, Dresser 1.0-1-1-0-1-0.
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