Baseball: ROWVA-Williamsfield spoils Bureau Valley’s season opener

MANLIUS - It was 60 degrees on March 12 and they were playing baseball in northern Illinois.

That was a good thing.

Brody Lytle and the ROWVA-Williamsfield Cougars, however, spoiled the season opener for the Bureau Valley Storm on Tuesday.

Lytle cleared the loaded bases with a double in the fourth inning to break open the game and send the Cougars to a 5-1 win.

“For us, we’ve had some good reps out on the field. Now this is the test for what it looks like when you get an opponent,” BV coach Ryan Schisler said. “They have a good squad. I thought their guy threw real well. They have a good defense. We’re a young team. I saw some good things. We’ve got some adjustments to make. We get to go out tomorrow in another 70-degree day and see what happens.”

The game was a matchup of future Lincoln Trail Conference foes beginning next year when the Storm find a new home.

A hit batter opened the flood gates for R-W’s big fourth inning. It was followed by an error and a walk before a wild pitch sent a runner home safely.

Another walk loaded the bases for Lytle, R-W’s sophomore catcher wearing No. 88, who ripped a liner to right-center field and sent the Cougars’ merry-go round in action with a three-run double.

A hit-by-pitch also led to the Storm’s lone run when sophomore Logan Philhower was plunked to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Blake Foster moved him up with a sac bunt and Philhower took another base on his own by swiping third.

Senior Tyler Birkey got the Storm on the board with an RBI hit to right, plating Philhower to make it 5-1.

“Good senior leadership for Tyler. He was injured last year and didn’t get to play a lot. Stick him in the lineup. He goes and gets two knocks tonight. That was awesome to see,” Schisler said. “Our young guys did a nice job too. We feel good about it. Something to build off of.”

The Storm got good pitching from their trio of hurlers, who surrendered just two hits while striking out 16.

Philhower started and struck out 11 in four innings, but was tagged with the loss. Junior Bryce Helms went two innings in relief and freshman Drake Taylor pitched a scoreless seventh.

“They had some good at-bats. I don’t know if our pitchers gave up one or two earned runs,” Schisler said. “Their lineup is legit. Phil (Logan Philhower) and Bryce (Helms) battled. I’ve got no complaints. Got a good game out of them. We made one too many mistakes and that’s the difference.”

The Storm will right back at it Wednesday, playing at Princeville, another future Lincoln Trail foe.