It wasn’t the Marquette baseball team’s prettiest game at the plate or defensively, but the Cru did just enough to hold on late against Putnam County on a windy Thursday night at Masinelli Field in Ottawa.
With the game tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, Marquette (23-1, 12-1) took the lead after third baseman Caden Durdan grounded out to score a run before catcher Jaxsen Higgins singled to extend the lead to 3-1.
However, Putnam County (14-9, 7-7) made things interesting in the seventh inning, loading the bases with nobody out before Cru head coach Todd Hopkins opted to use a mound visit.
During the visit, Hopkins said he told senior closer Anthony Couch to simply relax and trust his stuff despite the tense situation. That advice paid off as Couch got a groundout for the first out before striking out the next two hitters to earn the save.
“After he settled down a bit, I thought Anthony (Couch) did a good job of locating, got a ground ball, and Caden (Durdan) made a good play at third,” Hopkins said. “We get the first out, now they’ve got second and third, and Anthony just came up big to avoid any contact. He trusted his stuff and kept competing, and that was impressive.”
Although conditions were not ideal for right-handed pitching, with temperatures in the low 60s and heavy wind blowing out to right-center field, both starting pitchers were in command throughout their outings.
Marquette starting pitcher Griffin Dobberstein allowed one earned run and struck out 10 over six innings. Hopkins said Dobberstein’s first two innings were “more workmanlike than expected,” but he eventually settled in.
Despite taking the loss, Panthers sophomore starter Maddox Poole was impressive on the mound, allowing two earned runs on five hits while striking out five.
Putnam County head coach Chris Newsome praised the sophomore’s performance, emphasizing Poole’s pitch mix and sequencing to keep the Cru’s hard-hitting lineup off the board for more than four innings.
“I thought he did a really good job to keep them off balance,” Newsome said. “He was able to throw multiple pitches front to back, almost backwards, with off-speed stuff first and mixing the fastball in off that to get soft contact.”
After committing just one error, Newsome also credited the defense behind Poole for finishing innings and stranding multiple Crusaders on base.
Hopkins also praised Poole for his deception on the mound, as well as his ability to field his position.
“I was real impressed with him,” Hopkins said. “He made a heck of a play on Dobberstein’s bunt, too. Griff laid down a great bunt, but he was like a cat off the mound. He’s a good ballplayer.”
While praising Poole, Hopkins felt his lineup was impatient early in the game but started to settle in and pick up Poole’s stuff after seeing it.
“I thought we were impatient the first four innings,” Hopkins said. “We started working counts and drew a couple big walks in the innings we scored. Sometimes you have to kick-start things a little bit by running and doing stuff maybe you don’t always do.”
After beating the Panthers 8-0 earlier in the week, Hopkins said he reminded his players not to become complacent after the win.
“In our league, we play everybody back to back, and just because you beat somebody one night doesn’t mean it’s going to be handed to you the next,” Hopkins said. “I think tonight’s game was a good example of that.”
Conversely, Newsome said he was pleased with how his team responded after the loss.
“Maddox did a great job of setting the tone early,” Newsome said. “You’ve got to have a quick memory in baseball, whether it’s pitch by pitch or game by game. I was proud of the way we played tonight.”