SPRING VALLEY – The Hall Red Devils were just dying to get even with the Kewanee Boilermakers and Payton Dye made it happen.

The sophomore right-hander made short work of the Boilermakers, tossing a four-hit shutout in about an hour-and-a-half to pitch the Red Devils to an 8-0 victory Monday at Kirby Park. The win came on the heels of a 6-2 loss at the hands of the Boilermakers.

Dye (2-2), a transfer from Bureau Valley, struck out nine, getting in a groove by striking out six of seven batters, including the side in the sixth.

“We really needed it. He came up big for us,” Hall coach Tom Keegan said. “Incredibly efficient. I think he got through their order 2 1/2 times. Just kind of a mix of strikeouts and plays made defensively compared to what we had Monday over at Kewanee. I mean, we were a circus without a tent. Balls were popping out, balls are being thrown all over the place.”

Hall moved to 15-5 overall and 8-2 atop the TRAC East, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Boilermakers (13-5, 6-3) and Newman (11-5, 7-4) in the conference standings.

“That’s something we can feel good about for sure. Kind of keeps us in the driver’s seat for conference it looks like. I think they got three [losses], we’ve got two,” Keegan said. “Most importantly to that, it feels good to play well.”

The Red Devils gave Dye the only runs he would need with two runs on two hits in the third inning.

Max Bryant led off with a single and was moved over by a sacrifice bunt by Gabe Lucas. Leadoff man Mac Resetich singled home Bryant, then played a game of cat and mouse with the Kewanee infielders to sneak into second. Catcher Kyler Lapp hit a deep doubled to center to make it 2-0.

Hall kept its bats going in the fourth, scoring four runs on four hits.

Dye reached on a bloop hit to center, and third baseman Joel Koch followed with a drive off the base of the right field fence for a double. Keegan called on Bryant for a squeeze to bring home Dye with Bryant reaching safely.

A pair of balk balls on Kewanee pitcher Noah Tiska led to two more Hall runs. Kewanee coach Cody Butler was puzzled by the first balk call by plate umpire Jeff Sonneberg, but said the second was a result of their own defensive shifts.

“The second one was kind of our fault. We were trying to set up our defense and just kind of got too late,” Butler said. “The first one, the kid’s done it all year, pitched 30 some innings, and got called today. Don’t know what else to say about that. I think maybe it did affect him a little bit. It didn’t, by any means, cost us anything.”

Resetich finished off the Red Devil rally with a solo shot to right-center to make it 6-0.

Hall tacked on two more runs in the sixth on a deep double to center by Resetich and a single by Lapp.

Kewanee threatened in the top of the seventh, putting two men on with a hit and an error, but the Hall defense backed up Dye. Tiska lined a base hit to right-fielder Bryant, who took the ball on a long hop and fired a strike home to Lapp for the put out.

Butler said it was a reversal of fortune from Monday’s Boilermakers victory.

“They made mistakes, and we hit the ball on Monday. Today it was kind of the other way around,” he said. “With the game of baseball, that happens. We’ve just got to wipe that one and move on to next week.

“We have to take care of our business and hope for some help.”

Three Rivers East

Hall 8-2 15-5

Newman 7-4 11-5

Kewanee 6-3 14-5

Bureau Valley 5-4 12-7

Princeton 4-4 5-6

St. Bede 2-7 5-15

Mendota 1-9 2-13