Baseball: Dixon scores early, often to back up strong start by Burdick in win over Oregon

DIXON – An aggressive approach at the plate, especially early in the game, has paid dividends for the Dixon baseball team this season.

The Dukes stayed hot on a cool Tuesday at Veterans Memorial Field, scoring eight runs in the first two innings of an 11-1, five-inning win over Oregon in a Big Northern Conference game at Page Park.

“We talked about it the last couple nights at practice, the pitchers we were going to see and the arms they had. We’ve been working on it, and we were ready to hit today,” Dixon outfielder Max Clark said. “I knew they were going to throw some good pitches with some velocity. So I really just prepared myself and stayed aggressive – we all did – and the outcome was good.”

[ Photos from Dixon vs. Oregon baseball ]

While the offense was hitting on all cylinders from the start, Gage Burdick got in a groove on the mound. The senior struck out the side in the top of the first on 13 pitches, then only took 16 pitches to get out of the second with two more Ks. He then struck out the next six hitters he faced over the next two innings.

All told, Burdick (2-0) struck out 11 of the 12 batters he faced in four perfect innings, finishing with 56 pitches; that will allow him to pitch again in two days, per the IHSA pitch count regulations.

“Oh man, I wanted to finish that out so bad. I wanted it, but the pitch count was low, and it’s more about the team and the arms we’re going to need with all the games coming up,” said Burdick, who threw 39 strikes and just 17 balls. “I was just sticking with the fastball. I was shoving it right in the zone, giving them a chance to hit it, but I was blowing it by them and getting a lot of swings and misses.”

The only ball Oregon (1-6) put into play was a flyout to right field by Dominic Terlikowski for the second out of the second inning. The Hawks only got to a three-ball count twice against the Dukes ace.

“Burdick’s the man, just a stud,” Oregon coach Nate Girton said. “He’s going to be one of the best pitchers we see in the conference, and might be a better pitcher than anyone we’ll see in regionals this year. With him on the mound, it’s going to be tough to beat Dixon; he throws hard and he can mix it up, and that’s dangerous for hitters.”

Dixon’s offense was just as dangerous on this day. Beau Evans and Clark ripped back-to-back one-out doubles – Evans’ to right-center, Clark’s to center field – for a 1-0 lead in the first, then Burdick helped himself with a two-out RBI single down the first-base line. Ethan Van Horn followed with a double to left-center to drive in Evans for a quick 3-0 lead.

The Dukes (4-1, 3-1 BNC) picked up right where they left off in the second inning. Jake Gaither drew a one-out walk, then Evans beat out an infield single into the hole at shortstop. Clark followed with another double, this one smoked over the center fielder’s head for two RBIs and a 5-0 lead.

“Being aggressive every at-bat, it’s just something we like to do. We’ve been coming together and hitting the crap out of the ball,” Clark said. “It’s big for us to score early, especially with the arms we’ve got on the mound; getting that lead in the first inning just relaxes you. It makes us feel good, stay loose, and play better.”

Mike Bivins reached on an error, then Burdick doubled to right-center to drive in Clark. Van Horn followed with a sacrifice fly to left, and Burdick scored on a wild pitch for an 8-0 Dixon lead.

“We were just sitting back on pitches and hitting the ball where it was pitched,” Burdick said. “Really, you can’t do much more than that. When we’re doing that, we’re going to hit gap to gap, and balls are going to fall in for hits.”

Dixon looked like it would have another big inning in the third, as Trey Scheidegger led off with a walk, Gaither reached on an error, and Evans walked to load the bases. Clark was hit by a pitch to force in a run, then Burdick drew a one-out walk to force in another.

But Kade Girton, the third Oregon pitcher, came on and got a strikeout and a fielder’s choice to end the threat and limit the damage.

The Dukes tacked on a run in the fourth, as coach Jason Burgess emptied his bench. Lucas Sheridan went all the way to second on a throwing error, then Chris Sitter singled him in. Michael Sheats followed with a single, but Girton again escaped further damage with a pop-out and a strikeout.

“Really, we limit a few mistakes here and there, that will help us. We’re fairly young, and we’ll clean those up,” coach Girton said. “The positive is we didn’t back away. We could’ve easily gotten down and just folded, but we stayed focused and in the game. We didn’t look like a circus out there; we weren’t throwing the ball around and making mistakes, and we were doing the little things right.”

The Hawks scored their run in the fifth. Jackson Werren reached on an error to lead off against Dixon reliever Kyan Adkins, then Hunter Buchanan and Brady Davis drew walks to load the bases. After a visit to the mound by Burgess, Adkins struck out the next two hitters before walking Avery Lewis to force in Werren from third.

But Adkins came back and notched his third strikeout to leave the bases loaded and preserve the run-rule victory.

In all, 14 of the 15 outs recorded by Dixon pitchers came via strikeout, as Burdick and Adkins combined on a no-hitter.

Offensively for the Dukes, Clark had two doubles and four RBIs, Burdick added two hits and three RBIs, and Van Horn drove in a pair of runs. Clark, Burdick and Evans all reached base three times and scored two runs each, and Gaither also scored twice.

Jack Washburn took the loss for Oregon, allowing seven earned runs and eight hits in two innings, with three strikeouts and a walk. Terlikowski gave up two runs (one earned) in a third of an inning, striking out one, walking three and hitting a batter. Kade Girton allowed an unearned run and two hits in an inning and two-thirds, striking out two without a walk, and hitting a batter.