Playing or not playing fundamental baseball can be a lot like playing or not playing the odds in a game of chance.

In the short run, you might not get rewarded for good fundamentals or bitten by sloppy play. Over time, though, the odds inevitably lean in favor of the team doing the little things right.

That’s how things played out Tuesday in visiting Plainfield South baseball’s 10-1 win at Streator, the Cougars only managing to squeak one run out of three Bulldogs’ errors in the opening inning, but ultimately taking advantage of Streator’s compounding fielding errors and stranded baserunners for the nonconference triumph.

“That’s kind of been our goal throughout winter and getting ready for the year – do the little things right, the basic stuff,” Plainfield South coach Keith Halverson said. “That’s been our focus.

“We’ve really stressed taking care of the baseball, preventing the extra 90 feet ... and today we got back to our basic approach of getting on top of the baseball, staying through the middle, gap-to-gap, and getting some line drives going.”

It was the first victory of the season for Plainfield South (1-1). Cameron Kelliher (5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K) pitched the win, relieved by Michael Holmes (2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K), Camren Campbell and Matthew Rogers each had two hits and a run batted in, and Connor Vlcek and Kale Brooks each provided one hit and two RBIs.

“I think we hit well,” Brooks said. “We didn’t have a lot of walks, and we didn’t make many errors. Our energy was up too. We practice how we play, I’d say, and overall I’d say we play really hard.”

Streator (2-2-1) fell back to .500.

The Bulldogs wiggled off the hook early when starting/losing pitcher Keegan Gassman (4 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K) pitched around three first-inning errors behind him. They weren’t able to repeat the feat in a two-error, three-run top of the third that broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Cougars a comfortable lead they did not relinquish.

Isaac Melvin (2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K) and Joe Hoekstra (1 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K) relieved Gassman, who gave the Bulldogs a solid effort during what has been the mixed blessing/curse of dry spring weather allowing more games to get in, but requiring more innings to be pitched.

“That’s the thing when you go Thursday, Friday, Saturday, then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Friday this week,” Streator coach Beau Albert said. “You schedule them like that and you hope you get ‘em in, but you’re also kind of like, ‘Ugh.’ But you get nice weather, you’ve got to play ‘em, and the good part is you get to see a lot of arms.

“I thought Gassman had a heck of an outing. He earned this start because of the way he’s come out the two times out of the pen already this season. This is something to build off.”

Clay Christoff led off the bottom of the second against Kelliher with a walk and eventually came in to score on a Gassman RBI single up the middle. Other than that, a Hoesktra double in the seventh and two Cole Winterrowd singles was about it for the Bulldogs against Plainfield South pitching.

“It’s been really nice [getting so many games in early in the spring], seeing so many different arms,” said Winterrowd, who continued his hot start to the season with a 2-for-3 day. ”And this is the best team we’ve seen.

“I think we just need to clean up some things in the field and start hitting more. We’ve got a lot of ABs, but we still have a lot we need to work on.”

The Cougars scored once in the first on a Brooks’ RBI ground ball, three times in the third on Rogers’ and Campbell’s RBIs, and twice in the fourth on a Holmes run-scoring double followed immediately by a Brooks RBI single. Plainfield South added one in the fifth when Campbell led off with a double and scored on Streator’s sixth and final error of the day. The visitors tacked on three in the seventh thanks to RBI at-bats from Campbell, Vlcek and designated hitter Jake Walker.