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ROCK FALLS – An eight-run sixth inning in which Rock Falls sent 13 batters to the plate and Mendota used three pitchers proved to be the difference Monday as the Rockets rallied to beat Mendota 9-3.
The rally included four hits, a couple of errors and four batters hit by a pitch, erasing what had been a 3-1 Mendota lead heading into the inning with a reliever seemingly in control.
“It was mainly just our timing,” Rock Falls third baseman Dillon Schueler said. “Everyone was thrown off. We’ve been used to faster pitching and their pitcher was throwing slower than we’d been seeing the past few weeks, so it took some time to adjust to the speeds.”
After Isaiah Kobbeman was hit by a pitch to open the sixth, Drew Ebersole and Brady Dowd hit back-to-back one-out singles to load the bases. Brady Richards and Chase Chappell were then each hit by pitches to force in runs, knotting the game at 3.
After Dowd scored on an error, Schueler hit the first pitch he saw up the middle to drive in two runs, making it 7-3 Rockets with one out and two runners on.
That drove Mendota pitcher Sean Figueroa from the game. He had come on in relief in the first, when Trojans starter Johnnie Gonzalez failed to record an out with the first three Rock Falls batters of the game.
[ Check out more photos from Monday's BNC baseball game between Rock Falls and Mendota ]
Figueroa had been cruising in only his second appearance of the season, needing only 51 pitches to get through the fifth and, after Richards had hit a one-out single in the second, retired the next nine batters he faced, needing only 18 pitches to get through the third and fourth innings in order.
“Strikes. He was throwing strikes,” Mendota coach Aaron Sester said. “He mixed up his off-speed and kept the hitters off balance. It’s really a simple game. If you throw strikes, field the ball, hit the ball, it’s a simple game.”
Chase Chappell eventually broke up the string of outs with a one-out double off the fence in right-center in the fifth, and Gavin Sands reached on an infield single soon after, but Figueroa got out of the inning with a pop-up in foul territory and a strike out.
“I kind of thought Chase’s double in the fifth kind of got us going a little bit, even though we didn’t score on them,” Rockets coach Donnie Chappell said. “Then after that I thought he kind of helped us, walked a couple of guys and we got a bloop [single]. That’s high school baseball. Then we got a couple big hits. It was a struggle, that’s for sure.”
But the Rockets had Figueroa figured out by the sixth. After Schueler’s RBI single, Derek Nanez came on in relief and couldn’t record an out. With runners at second and third, Luke Akerman hit a sharp grounder to third and Gavin Sands was able to beat the throw home for another run. Victor Rivera then drove in two more runs with a double, which chased Nanez from the mound.
Mendota’s fourth pitcher of the game, Andres Castaneda, got out of the inning when Kobbeman was caught stealing and Dowd struck out.
Both teams scored in the first inning. Mendota got a two-out RBI single from Ted Landgraf to drive in Krew Bond.
Rock Falls (7-11, 4-5 Big Northern) needed all of three pitches to tie it in the bottom of the inning. Gonzalez hit Chase Chappell with his first pitch, and his second went back to the screen. Chappell moved up to second easily and made a big turn around the bag, breaking for third when that turn didn’t elicit a throw and making it safely. Gonzalez threw his third pitch back to the backstop as well, and Chappell scored.
Figueroa relieved Gonzalez after the starter had thrown 11 pitches to three Rockets, hitting one, walking two others and allowing a run. An error allowed Rock Falls to load the bases with one out, but Mendota got out of the inning with a pop-up to second and a fly ball to left.
Mendota (2-9, 1-8 BNC) broke through again in the top of the fourth. After Gonzalez led off the inning with a single up the middle, Dylan Turnow tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but was safe at first thanks to a bad throw. Abel Guerra had a sacrifice bunt, putting runners at second and third with one out for Straus, who singled up the middle, scoring Gonzalez before Tornow was thrown out at the play from center field by Gavin Sands. Bond then followed with a single of his own, driving in Straus, who had taken second on Sands’ throw home.
Of Mendota’s three runs, two were scored with two out.
“A lot of times with two outs, and you see it in the Majors too, they put pressure on themselves and then they press and then they have a bad at-bat,” Sester said.
Akerman pitched a complete game, striking out eight and walking three for Rock Falls. After the two-run fourth he retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth, needing 24 pitches for those two innings. Akerman took care of one of those outs himself when a line drive up the middle off the bat of Gonzalez found its way into his glove.
“Coach was telling me I was jumping forward too much and just to stay back,” Akerman said. “Just tried to battle. I try to relax and be efficient.”
Getting the most out of his fastball and curveball, he finished with 101 pitches on the day, not having any inning where he needed more than the 17 he threw in the first.
He issued a one-out walk in the seventh, but a strikeout and a fly ball ended the game.
“That’s as good as he’s thrown it all year, probably,” coach Chappell said. “Luke’s done a good job on the mound all year. He struggled a little bit early, but I thought he did a nice job with his adjustments.”