L-P edges Ottawa in Interstate 8 series opener

OTTAWA – It doesn’t have to be pretty is a phrase you often hear in sports and Monday’s Interstate 8 Conference game between rivals La Salle-Peru and Ottawa was the latest example.

The teams combined 24 walks (LP 13, Ottawa 5) and hit batters (LP 1, Ottawa 5) as the Cavaliers pulled out an 11-9 victory at King Field.

“We have looked a lot sharper on the mound than we did tonight,” L-P coach Matt Glupczynski said. “We just weren’t very sharp, but this is a team game right? Ottawa would punch us in the mouth and we’d come right back.”

The first punch came in the bottom of the first as Jace Veith led off with a single up the middle and Adam Swanson followed with a walk as did Jacob Rosetto.

That brought up Brendyn Fuchs who looked as if he was going to pop out foul, but the Cavs were unable to make the catch.

Fuchs made the most of his second chance as he hit an RBI single to left that scored Veith for a 1-0 lead. Moments later, Swanson made it 2-0 as he scored on a wild pitch.

But the Cavs came back with a four spot in the top of the second inning. Griffin May singled to center and then stole second.

Jentz Watson struck out, but made it to first as the ball got away from Swanson. Monti Lorenzi cut the Pirates lead in half with an RBI single to center.

Jackson Piecha was hit by a Bryson Colt pitch before Brevyn Vogel gave the Cavs the lead with a two-run double to left that scored Watson and Lorenzi for a 3-2 lead.

Grey Ernat made it 4-2 L-P with a sacrifice fly to center. Piecha was caught in a delayed steal that ended the inning.

The Cavs added to their lead in the top of the third as Braylin Bond led off being hit by a pitch as was Watson two batters later.

Lorenzi then picked up his second RBI of the afternoon with a sac fly to center to extend the lead to 5-2.

In the bottom of the third, Swanson got hit by a pitch to lead off and then Rosetto got a free pass.

Swanson scored on a wild pitch and Colt hit a sacrifice fly to to right that scored Rosetto to cut the Cavs’ lead to 5-4 after three innings.

In fourth, Vogel legged out an infield single and then stole second. After a Kaedin Bond walk, Ernat slapped an RBI single past third that scored Vogel to push the L-P lead to 6-4.

May hit a bloop single to right field and later just beat the tag at home on a Piecha single for a 7-4 edge.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Pirates scored four runs with barely swinging at a pitch.

Rock Radtke picked up the first two outs of the inning before the wheels fell off for the Cavs. Colt, Harry Carretto and Lucas Farabaugh all collected walks.

That brought up George Shumway, Jaxon Cooper, Veith and Swanson, who all picked up RBI walks that gave the Pirates an 8-7 after seven consecutive walks.

“We preach to the guys all the time about the free bases,” Ottawa coach Levi Ericson said. “Both teams struggled with it tonight. We just couldn’t come up with that big hit to break things open.”

L-P bounced right back in the top of the sixth though as Adrian Arzola led off with a walk and then Kaedin Bond crushed an RBI double down the left field line to tie the game at 8.

Later in the inning, Bond gave the lead back to the Cavs as he scored on a wild pitch. After a May walk, Lorenzi made it 11-8 Cavs with his third and fourth RBIs of the night with a two-run double over the Pirates centerfielder.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Pirates looked to get right back into it with a leadoff single from Shumway before Carretto and Farabaugh walked.

But perhaps the play of the game came as Shumway crushed a shot to left field that appeared to be over the head of Braylin Bond that would’ve emptied the bases and tied the game, but instead a snow cone catch limited the Pirates to one run and kept the Cavs ahead 11-9.

“I mean, what a catch by Braylin Bond there,” Glupczysnki said. “He is a cross country guy and used every bit of speed he had to make that catch and keep us in the lead and then Tyler Spelich coming into pitch with two outs and the bases loaded and keeping us in front as well was just huge.”

Ottawa had two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, but an inning ending 4-6-3 double play gave the Cavs an 11-9 victory over the Pirates.

For the game Ernat, May, Lorenzi and Vogel all had two hits for the Cavs while Lorenzi had four RBIs to go along with two each from Ernat and Vogel.

The Pirates were led by Veith with three hits and an RBI while Colt, Shumway and Cooper also added RBIs.