Newman builds early lead, holds off Rock Falls

STERLING – The top of the order set the table Wednesday evening for Newman, and the bottom of the order stepped up.

The end result was a 7-3 win for the Comets over Rock Falls in a game that saw the two leadoff hitters combine to reach base in all eight plate appearances.

Newman’s Garret Matznick was 1 for 1 with an RBI double and three walks, including one with the bases loaded. He also stole three bases and scored on RBI singles by Ashton Miner (who also had a sacrifice fly) and Daniel Kelly.

“When I get on base, I can usually steal a couple of bases and get into scoring position, and make it easy on the hitters just to put the ball in play and score me,” said Matznick, who also came on in relief and shut down the Rockets’ comeback attempt in the later innings. “We’re starting to see some of the bottom hitters start producing like we know they can. Once we all get going, it’ll be really nice.”

No. 7 hitter Michael Morse had a single and a double for Newman (13-2-1), and No. 9 hitter Liam Nicklaus’ two-out, two-run bloop single in the bottom of the third inning provided the eventual winning runs; he then stole second and scored on Matznick’s double.

“I saw the right fielder way back, and I knew the infielder wasn’t getting there. I thought it had a chance off the bat [to fall in for a ht],” Nicklaus said. “I was just trying to put the ball in play, see what happens. I wanted to see if I could get something to drop and make them make a play. Really, I just didn’t want to strike out, just put the ball in the play.”

Rockets leadoff hitter Austin Castaneda matched Matznick by reaching base four times, adding two singles to a pair of walks; he also had two stolen bases. His first hit drove in two runs in the top of the fourth to chase Newman starter Drake Cole and cut a once 6-0 deficit to 6-3; courtesy runner Brody Cox had scored on a wild pitch earlier in the inning.

Cadon Schulz and Mason Landes started that rally with back-to-back singles to open the fourth, but Cole got a pair of outs before walking No. 9 hitter Ethan Mathews to bring up Castaneda with the bases loaded.

“I think it’s just a momentum thing. One thing can change the whole mindset of the whole team,” Castaneda said. “We try to keep our guys up, even when things don’t go our way, and I think those hits just got everyone going. That’s huge for our team to rally around, and we just kept building off it. It wasn’t enough in the end, but I’m proud of the team and the way we did that.”

Cole allowed three earned runs and three hits in 3 2/3 innings, with two strikeouts, four walks and a hit batsman. He had a no-hitter through the first three innings.

Matznick came on to get the last out of the fourth, then he cruised through the rest of the game, allowing just one hit without a walk in 3 1/3 shutout innings. He struck out three and didn’t throw more than 13 pitches in any inning.

The game ended on a double play, as Newman center fielder Chase Decker caught a fly ball from Owen Mandrell and made a perfect throw to nail Castaneda trying to take third after tagging up.

“We’re good enough [defensively] just to go in there and throw strikes, let them hit it and have us make the plays,” Matznick said.

Castaneda did the same thing for the Rockets (8-9), relieving starter A.J. Moore in the fourth. He gave up two hits and a walk in 2 2/3 innings, and was pulled when he reached 45 pitches to preserve him for later in the week.

“Coach [Donnie] Chappell talks a lot about first-pitch strikes, because it keeps hitters off-balance,” Castaneda said. “And we made some plays. We work on crazy plays all the time in practice – like Ethan Mathews had a spectacular jumping catch, and we had a couple of other really good plays. We work on that stuff, and it came in big today.”

Moore gave up six runs – three earned – and four hits in three innings, with a strikeout and five walks.

Before the game against Newman, Moore had the walk-off RBI single to drive in Carter Hunter as the Rockets finished off a 6-5 win over Oregon that was postponed in the fifth inning Tuesday. The Hawks tied the game 5-5 in the top of the fifth to set up Moore’s heroics.