Last season, Coal City‘s Bobby Rodriguez did not play varsity baseball. He was on the freshman-sophomore team and did not get called up at any point in the season.

Monday morning, Rodriguez found himself starting and batting eighth for the Coalers against one of the top pitchers in the area, Bradley University-bound Cooper Holman of Wilmington, in the Illinois Central Eight opener for both teams, coming through with a key hit in the 4-3 win.

“I did a lot of work in the offseason,” Rodriguez said. “There’s a facility in town that we go to and we put in a lot of work. The transition to varsity hasn’t been as hard because of all the work we did. With Carter Nicholson, myself and Drake Stewart at the bottom of the order, we have been doing a good job of getting on base for the top of the order.

In the bottom of the fourth with his team trailing by a run, Rodriguez came to bat with Carter Nicholson on first after a single. Rodriguez launched a 1-1 pitch toward left field and the wind caught hold of it.

The Wilmington left fielder kept drifting back, but it fell over his head. By the time the play was over, Nicholson had scored and Rodriguez slid safely into third.

Drake Stewart followed with an RBI single to put the Coalers ahead by a run. After winning pitcher Lance Cuddy was hit by a pitch and Ethan Olson walked, Connor Henline drew a bases-loaded walk. That final run was a big one, as Wilmington scored a run in the top of the seventh.

“Everyone on this team is a good player. The guys who are backups, we can put them in and we don’t miss a beat,” Rodriguez said. “They could probably start for a lot of teams, and they are always pushing the starters to be better. We know that if we don’t perform, there’s someone waiting to take our job. That makes the whole team better.”

Cuddy would have had a hard time being better on the mound for the Coalers (4-2, 1-0). The senior lefty stymied the Wildcats to the tune of a complete game six-hitter with 10 strikeouts. Cuddy also got the scoring started in the bottom of the third when he hit a one-out solo homer to center.

“I know these guys pretty well,” Cuddy said. “I play with [Wilmington players] Zach [Ohlund] and Cooper [Holman] during the summer, so it’s fun to play against them here. On my home run, I was ahead in the count, sitting on a fastball and put a good swing on it.

“My fastball was working early and I was able to get outs with it. Then I started to get my curve over for a strike and could mix things up.”

After Cuddy’s homer made it 1-0, the Wildcats had an answer. Dierks Geiss led off the top of the fourth with a single, and Ohlund (2 for 2, double) followed with a single of his own. Holman sacrificed the runners to second and third before Declan Moran singled to center to chase home pinch-runner Ryan Schraeger. A passed ball then allowed courtesy runner Nash Rink to score, giving the Wildcats a 2-1 lead.

That lead proved to be short-lived, though, as the Coalers responded with their three-run inning in the bottom half.

“This was a good ball game,” Coal City coach Greg Wills said. “The bottom of our order has been doing stuff like this all year. Bobby Rodriguez comes in after not playing an inning of varsity ball and he’s making solid contact. Guys like Carter Nicholson and Drake Stewart are putting barrels on the ball, too.

“Wilmington has a heck of a lineup, so for Lance to do what he did today was outstanding. He mixed up his pitches well and threw strikes.”

Wilmington (2-2-1, 0-1) did not go down without a fight. Bobby Phillips led off the top of the seventh with a single and went to second on a groundout to first. After a strikeout, Kettman singled to right to score Phillips and make it 4-3 with the tying run on base. Cuddy got a flyout to center to end the game, however.

“This is the type of game that you know every run is going to matter,” Wilmington coach Mike Bushnell said. “We walked too many guys, and the bottom of their order came through for them. At the plate, we need to be able to generate a few more runs. Give credit to Cuddy for that. He pitched well and had us off-balance.

“One thing I know about our guys is that they never give up. We are going to keep fighting until that final out is made.”