Sterling rallies to snap 16-year drought against Moline

STERLING – This comeback was a decade-and-a-half in the making.

Trailing by three going into the bottom of the sixth inning, Sterling rallied with five runs to snap a 16-year drought against Moline, winning 5-4 in a Western Big 6 Conference baseball game Wednesday at Gartner Park.

After starter Eli Penne kept the Golden Warriors (7-10, 2-4 WB6) in the game with a stellar performance, the offense finally found its groove at the end.

[ Photos of Sterling vs. Moline baseball ]

“I was pumped, running out of the dugout at the end,” said Penne, who allowed one earned run and five hits through 5⅔ innings. “That’s a big win.”

“It feels great getting a win after a few games without one,” Drew Nettleton added. “This win is just awesome.”

Down 3-0, Bryce Hartman and Braden Birdsley both singled to lead off the sixth, then Tatum Allen laid down a bunt. But the home plate umpire ruled the batted ball hit Allen in the leg as he ran toward first; he was called out and the runners had to return to first and second.

Adrian Monarrez made it moot, doubling down the right field line to drive in Hartman for Sterling’s first run. Mason Hubbard followed with a single to center to drive in pinch runner Will Ports, chasing Moline starter Zach Peterson.

Cale Nettleton greeted reliever Keaton Chalder with an RBI single to center to drive in Monarrez to tie the game 3-3.

“When we start putting hits together, it just picks up everybody,” Drew Nettleton said. “We’re down, feeling bad about ourselves, then the first guy gets a hit, the next guy gets a hit, and it gets everybody going and locked in.”

After a strikeout, Drew Nettleton stepped in. Hitless in three previous at-bats and coming off a rough game Monday at Moline, he worked the count full before singling up the middle, driving in Hubbard with the go-ahead run.

When the throw from the outfield was cut off, he got in a brief rundown – allowing younger brother Cale to take off for home. The throw to the plate was offline, and Cale scored for a 5-3 lead.

“I just changed my approach,” Drew Nettleton said of the clutch at-bat. “I was struggling mentally all game; I was in my head about the last game on Monday, and I just decided that I had to let that go. It was in the past, and I had to step in the box and just be locked in and know what I’m doing up there.”

Moline (9-6, 3-3 WB6) didn’t go away quietly. Tanner Soucinek tripled with one out, then Nolan Ducey notched drove him in to cut it to 5-4. But Sterling reliever Shawn Dir picked off the Moline courtesy runner. After allowing a two-out single, he got a groundout to end it.

The late surge took advantage of a strong start by Penne. He struck out five, walked three and hit Soucinek with a pitch twice, but two of the three runs he gave up were unearned – on a two-out error in the fourth and a passed ball in the sixth – as he limited the damage to keep his team in the game.

“Everything was working. I just tried to pound the zone and pitch well, and I worked out of a lot of damage,” Penne said. “I’m just proud of my defense; I got a lot of ground balls and pop-ups, and these guys made a [heck] of a lot of plays behind me. I give it all to them.”

Dir came on when Penne exhausted his pitch count, and gave up three hits and a run in an inning and a third. Birdsley and Monarrez had two hits each to lead Sterling at the plate.

Ducey had three hits and two RBIs, and Soucinek had a pair of hits and scored twice for Moline, which lost despite a strong outing from Peterson. Through the first five innings, he allowed no runs and two hits, striking out six and walking three before the Warriors finally got to him in the sixth.

“He threw well. He was in the strike zone early in the game and did everything to give us the opportunity to win the baseball game. We just didn’t win it,” Moline coach Craig Schimmel said. “[In the sixth inning], we didn’t hit our spots, and they made us pay for it. That’s what happens against a good team.

“We’ve got to finish games. That’s kind of been our bugaboo all year long. We have games where we play six really strong innings, and then we’ll have one bad inning and it costs us baseball games. That’s what happens in this league against good teams: you’re going to get beat if you’re not in it for the whole seven innings.”