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FRONTENAC —
The Girard All-Stars took a pair of polar opposite baseball games from host Frontenac (visitors on the scoreboard) Monday night — a weird and wild 15-7 contest in the 9-10 game and a nailbiting 3-2 thriller in the 11-12 nightcap.
Girard 11-12 All-Stars 3, Frontenac 2: Girard starter Dakota Lopez pitched 5.1 scoreless innings before giving up two runs in the sixth and leaving with a tough no-decision.
Lopez struck out nine Frontenac hitters — one in the first, two in the second, one in the third, two in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth — and surrendered only two hits.
At the plate, his RBI single in the first went as far as possible for a one-base hit, clipping the apex of the wall and staying inside the field of play.
Camden McFarland scored all the way from first on the impressive hit. Lopez scored on a ground-rule double by Colton Barnaby.
In the sixth, Lopez struck out the first batter of the inning and seemed on his way to a complete-game shutout win. Then, he walked No. 1 hitter Wes Jameson with one down, only his second walk of the contest, and this opened the door for a Frontenac rally.
Frontenac shortstop Jake Wilbert made Girard pay the price for that walk after he laced a ball into right center between right fielder Cody Mein and center fielder Ethan Jahay. The ball went deep into the gap and it was a contest between the speedy Jameson and the strong-armed Mein. Wilbert slid into third and Jameson into home safely ahead of the throw home.
Down 0-2 against Lopez, Frontenac center fielder Peyton Brown fought back and worked Lopez into a full count. Brown hit a fly ball to Mein, Wilbert tagged up, Mein winded his strong right arm and threw a strike to catcher Ryan Hughes. However, Wilbert beat the throw home and Frontenac earned a tie score.
In the bottom of the sixth, Mein led off with a walk after falling behind 0-2 against Frontenac reliever A.J. Lusker. Mein, seemingly at the middle of every key play in the sixth, advanced to second on a loose ball on a catcher-to-pitcher exchange. Lusker retired two straight Girard hitters, bringing up Braven Born — previously 0-for-3 in the contest — with two outs and the winning run in scoring position.
Born hit a sharp grounder and legged out an infield single as Mein came home for the win.
The Girard All-Stars took a pair of polar opposite baseball games from host Frontenac (visitors on the scoreboard) Monday night — a weird and wild 15-7 contest in the 9-10 game and a nailbiting 3-2 thriller in the 11-12 nightcap.
Girard 11-12 All-Stars 3, Frontenac 2: Girard starter Dakota Lopez pitched 5.1 scoreless innings before giving up two runs in the sixth and leaving with a tough no-decision.
Lopez struck out nine Frontenac hitters — one in the first, two in the second, one in the third, two in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth — and surrendered only two hits.
At the plate, his RBI single in the first went as far as possible for a one-base hit, clipping the apex of the wall and staying inside the field of play.
Camden McFarland scored all the way from first on the impressive hit. Lopez scored on a ground-rule double by Colton Barnaby.
In the sixth, Lopez struck out the first batter of the inning and seemed on his way to a complete-game shutout win. Then, he walked No. 1 hitter Wes Jameson with one down, only his second walk of the contest, and this opened the door for a Frontenac rally.
Frontenac shortstop Jake Wilbert made Girard pay the price for that walk after he laced a ball into right center between right fielder Cody Mein and center fielder Ethan Jahay. The ball went deep into the gap and it was a contest between the speedy Jameson and the strong-armed Mein. Wilbert slid into third and Jameson into home safely ahead of the throw home.
Down 0-2 against Lopez, Frontenac center fielder Peyton Brown fought back and worked Lopez into a full count. Brown hit a fly ball to Mein, Wilbert tagged up, Mein winded his strong right arm and threw a strike to catcher Ryan Hughes. However, Wilbert beat the throw home and Frontenac earned a tie score.
In the bottom of the sixth, Mein led off with a walk after falling behind 0-2 against Frontenac reliever A.J. Lusker. Mein, seemingly at the middle of every key play in the sixth, advanced to second on a loose ball on a catcher-to-pitcher exchange. Lusker retired two straight Girard hitters, bringing up Braven Born — previously 0-for-3 in the contest — with two outs and the winning run in scoring position.
Born hit a sharp grounder and legged out an infield single as Mein came home for the win.
Girard 9-10 All-Stars 15, Frontenac 7: After three innings, Girard led Frontenac 4-1 and the game displayed few signs of what then happened next for both teams in the fourth inning. Short rundown: 16 runs, 11 hits, four errors and 24 batters.
Frontenac went ahead 7-4 with a six-run surge, helped by four Girard errors.
Girard answered in the bottom half with a 10-run explosion — outfielder Heston Kavanaugh alone drove in four runs with two hits, a RBI double scoring Gabe Shireman and a key three-run triple plating Rigby Born, Eli Tucker and Shireman. Tucker added a two-run single and later collected another RBI in the fifth on his double, not bad for a player who entered the game in the fourth.
Girard starter Davis Davenport endured a comebacker which knocked him down but not out in the fourth and an off-night hitting to earn the win.
