Baseball: L-P drops pitchers’ duel to Washington in 8 innings

LA SALLE – On a cold and windy day, the La Salle-Peru and Washington baseball teams engaged in a classic pitchers’ duel at the L-P Sports Complex.

Neither team had a hit through three innings.

L-P’s Brendan Boudreau had the game’s first hit in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the Cavaliers managed two hits through seven innings.

The Panthers were hitless through seven but managed a pair of hits in the top of the eighth to squeak out a 1-0 nonconference victory.

“I thought we played outstanding,” L-P coach Matt Glupczynski said. “There’s no reason for us to hang our heads. Washington is a great program. They didn’t have a hit until the eighth inning. They were able to get two big hits. We left two balls up. But besides that, our pitchers did a great job.

“I thought we played great defense today. The one or two errors, our guys didn’t spiral. They kept competing, kept making plays. We barreled a couple balls. They just hung up.

“For late March, this was a well-played game. I was very happy with a lot of stuff. We just came up on the short end.”

Washington’s Gavin Lawrence led off the eighth inning with a double to left field. After a pop-up for the first out, Micah McCoy delivered a single to center field to plate the game’s only run.

On the mound for L-P, Josh Senica, Nolan Van Duzer and Boudreau combined for the two-hitter.

Senica threw the first two innings, striking out four batters and walking two. Van Duzer pitched the third and fourth innings and faced one batter in the fifth before giving way to Boudreau. Van Duzer struck out two, walked none and hit two batters. Boudreau pitched the final four innings, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

“We have a lot of pitching depth,” Glupczynski said. “Right now, we’re still trying to figure out combinations and how we’re going to go about it to get ready for conference play, which is in a couple weeks.

“Today we went with Senica, Van Duzer and Boudreau. They did a great job. They kept pounding the zone.”

Boudreau had the game’s first hit with a single to right field with one out in the fourth inning, but the next two batters were retired to end the inning.

In the sixth, Brady Romagnoli singled to center field with one out and later stole second base, but was stranded as Washington pitcher Braden Vanderheydt struck out the next batter and got a flyout to left-center to end the threat.

“In the huddle we talked about when you’re facing good pitching like that and the conditions aren’t ideal to hit, we have to look to somehow get on base like looking to bunt for a hit, get hit by pitches or whatever it may be,” Glupczynski said. “We have to have a better approach in the box.

“A couple of guys seemed to be overwhelmed before they got in there, and an example of that is three pitches and they’re sitting down. We have to slow the game down in those moments. We have to do a better job of being ready for those big moments and not be overwhelmed by it.”

The Cavs (4-2) return to action Thursday, as they picked up a home nonconference game against Moline. L-P travels to Streator on Saturday before leaving Tuesday for its spring break trip for four games in Tennessee.

“This early in the season, we’ve had a ton of games,” Glupczynski said. “Six games this early is not heard of. We got the first week in. We had great rhythm, and then you get the cold and rain. We’re trying to keep the guys in rhythm. That’s why we wanted to get this game in today.

“What we’re really looking forward to is hopefully a little bit warmer weather down there. We hope to get all four games in. They have great facilities. The competition is going to be great. I know our guys are really excited to go down there and compete.”