BASEBALL | Big innings, two-hitter help spark Hammond over Springfield

“We’re just trying to get better every day,” Springfield coach Chris Blanchard said. “Hammond’s got a really good team this year, and (Hammond) Coach (Michael) Rutland’s doing a great job. We’ve just got to try to eliminate mistakes and get some of these young guys some reps, and that way hopefully we won’t be making those same mistakes and hopefully turn it around at some point.”

On Friday, Fontainebleau scratched for a 3-2 win over Springfield, while Loranger scored a 12-2 win in non-tournament action.

Against Hammond, the Bulldogs (3-8) had two runners picked off in the top of the first after Graham walked a pair.

Hammond got four runs in the bottom of the inning on three hits, two errors and a walk, with Fleming’s single to right scoring two after the ball was misplayed in the outfield.

Holden Brown’s floater to second drove in another run, and Jace Caves reached on an error to score another for a 4-0 lead.

Springfield’s Jayden Teague reached on an error to lead off the second inning, but the Tors got a strikeout and a double play to get out unscathed.

“It’s mistakes,” Blanchard said. “If we just execute a few things here and there make some routine plays, their big innings don’t happen. We can limit it to one or two (runs), and before you know it, it’s a 4-0 game instead of a 10-0 game. Once you do that, you’ve just got to play catch-up, and it’s hard to play catch-up when a guy like Konnor Graham is pitching.”

Hammond left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, and the Bulldogs stranded two in the top of the third before Hammond broke the game open in the bottom of the inning.

Payne Petrolia led off with a solo home run to left field, and Hammond got four straight hits, with Graham driving in a run on a single, and Ian Trahan driving in two with a double for an 8-0 lead.

After Fleming reached on an error and Brown was hit by a pitch, Petrolia singled up the middle to drive in two for a 10-0 lead.

“They’re a good team, and you can’t make mistakes because good teams will take advantage of those mistakes,” Blanchard said. “It’s good for our young guys to see that, see how to play the game the right way. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and keep getting better.”

That signaled the end of the day for Teague, who started the game for the Bulldogs. Teague gave up 10 hits, 10 runs, a walk and struck out one in 2.2 innings.

“I thought the pitching was decent,” Blanchard said. “If we make the plays behind him, it’s not 10-0. He doesn’t have to face the order for the third and fourth time. He’s seeing them for the second and third time if we don’t make those mistakes, but that’s baseball. You make mistakes and it snowballs on you …”

Teague had a one-out double in the top of the fourth, stole third and scored on a passed ball, cutting the lead to 10-1.

“Our goal is to get them on, get them over, and get them in,” Blanchard said. “Our goal is to score one an inning. If we do that, we can get to seven in seven-inning game, and we should be able to win games if we get seven runs.”

Springfield relief pitcher Thad Whittington worked out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth when Justin Harland led off with a single and moved to second on JT Williams’ sacrifice to the pitcher.

Harland was picked off at second base, and after a walk to Kaleb O’Hara, Graham popped out to Bulldog third baseman Carson Lexia to end the inning.

Whittington gave up two hits, a run and a walk in 1.2 innings of relief.

Fleming struck out two in a clean inning of relief in the fifth for the Tors, who ended the game in the bottom of the fifth when Trahan was hit by a pitch to lead off and later scored on Brown’s single past second to end the game.

Teague was 1-for-2 with a run, while Dawson Roussel went 1-for-2 for the Bulldogs.

O’Hara went 3-for-3 with two runs, Brown was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run, and Petrolia went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead Hammond.

Graham gave up two hits, a run, three walks and struck out four in four innings to get the win.

FONTAINEBLEAU 3, SPRINGFIELD 2

Fontainebleau got two runs on three singles and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to rally for the win.

Whittington had a two-run single in the first to give Springfield the lead, and Fontainebleau picked up a run in the fourth sparked by a hit batter and three walks.

Will Sanders went 3-for-4 for Springfield.

Cole Pierce gave up no hits, a run and struck out one while walking six in 3.2 innings, while Brennan McKinney gave up three hits, two runs and struck out two in 2.1 innings of relief.

LORANGER 12, SPRINGFIELD 2

Loranger scored in every inning, including six in the third while holding the Bulldogs to three hits.

Kyle Ridgedell was 1-for-2 with two RBIs on a single in the fifth that cut the lead to 11-2 before the Wolves got a run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning to end the game.

Teague and Whittington also had hits for Springfield.

Roussel and Ethan Lipscomb combined to give up nine hits, 12 runs and five walks while striking out three in four innings.