Baseball: Adam Williamson’s shutout, teammates’ homers lead Streator past Manteno

STREATOR – With a couple key players out of the lineup because of illness and injury, Manteno may not have been at full strength Monday to open their Illinois Central Eight Conference series with fellow contender Streator.

The Diamond Dogs, on the other hand, were undoubtedly at the top of their game.

Streator rode a complete-game shutout from Adam Williamson and home runs off the bats of Jenson Ketcham and Brady Grabowski to a commanding 7-0 ICE Conference win. The Diamond Dogs (11-4 overall, 7-1 ICE) are set to visit Manteno (13-3 overall, 5-3 ICE) on Tuesday to close out the series.

“Hat’s off to Adam,” Streator coach Beau Albert said. “His two-seamer was working, even the kid at third base for Manteno came over and asked, ‘Coach, is that a two-seamer? That thing’s diving off the table.’ That’s why you saw a lot of swings over the top of the ball.

“This is a big series for us after Coal City handed us our first [conference] loss last week, because [Manteno} split with Coal City. If we find a way to get this one and hopefully another one tomorrow, we know we’ll be sitting pretty for that May 6 matchup that we rescheduled against Coal City.”

Williamson and the rest of the Diamond Dogs were in control from the first inning on. Streator’s right-handed starter allowed only one runner to reach third – one who was gunned down to end the game while getting too adventurous on a nice block and behind-the-runner throw by Streator catcher Sean McGurk – during a five-hit, no-run, two-walk, 12-strikeout performance.

“I had the two-seam working,” Williamson said. “There were a lot of swing and misses and bad contact with that. It was moving a lot, and I throw it comfortably because I know I have good fielders behind me.

“We had to win this one to have a shot at [the] conference [championship], and we knew it was going to be a tough game.”

While Williamson was being backed by error-free defense with plus plays from batterymate McGurk, second baseman Jack Starkey, third baseman Parker Phillis and center fielder Nolan Barr, the Streator offense scored right away when McGurk singled and eventually came in to score on a wild pitch in the first.

The Diamond Dogs added their second run in the third on Grabowski’s 375-foot solo home run to center, then put the win away with a five-run fifth that chased Manteno starter Jace Nikoncuk (4+ IP, 6 ER, 4 K). Phillis led the frame off with a single and scored on a double-error of a McGurk base hit. Grabowski reached on a dropped-third strike, Williamson added a single, Christian Benning contributed a sacrifice fly, and Ketcham capped things off with a three-run homer to left-center.

“I knew it off the bat,” Ketcham said of his longball. “Last year I didn’t really have a very good season at the plate, so I’ve really been working on barreling balls up and working on contact.

“I wasn’t looking for a home run there. I was just looking to barrel it up.”

All that was left was for Williamson to finish off the shutout, which he did despite a three-hit day from Panthers leadoff batter Bryce Vorwald.

“We had some guys who hit,”Manteno coach Matt Beckner said, “but [Williamson] is a good pitcher, good caliber. We had some guys who were out, but that’s not an excuse. We have plenty of guys on the roster, and guys when they get their opportunity need to take advantage of it.

“Apparently we didn’t do it today. He threw well, tip your hat to him.”

McGurk and Williamson each with three singles, Grabowksi with the solo homer and a single, and Ketcham with a double and the three-run bomb led Streator’s 11-hit attack.