By FRED KRONER
It took seven games for Mahomet-Seymour’s junior high baseball team to record its first shutout of the season.
Then, the Bulldogs needed just one more day to register their second shutout.
Playing at Champaign’s Spalding Park on Thursday (Sept. 10), M-S blanked Champaign Franklin 11-0.
M-S plated five runs in the first inning before Franklin had a turn at-bat.
Three Bulldog hurlers combined for the shutout.
Starter Nolan Johnson worked one inning, allowing one hit and striking out one batter. Raymond Long followed with a hitless inning and fanned two.
Closer Jackson Bohm threw two innings. He allowed one hit, walked a batter and struck out a batter.
Nolan Sanderson produced two of M-S’ six hits, one of which was a double. He also scored twice and drove in two runs.
Nathan Hale also scored two runs and produced two RBI. Cade Ashby scored two runs and stole two bases.
Wade Manuel, Hale and Ashby all drew two walks.
M-S’ pitching staff has permitted only 15 runs in its first eight games.
The Bulldogs won in dramatic fashion on Monday (Sept. 14), never leading in the game until Tyson Finch delivered the tie-breaking hit in the bottom of the sixth inning.
With Finch’s hit, M-S topped visiting Monticello 9-7 in a game where it was out-hit 13-6.
The comeback enabled Lucas Dyer to earn his first win of the season. He was summoned in relief of Johnson, the tarter who worked four scoreless innings, allowing four hits, no walks while striking out two.
Johnson and Sanderson were M-S’ offensive catalysts. Each contributed two hits. Johnson blasted a three-run home run and drove in four runs. Sanderson had two RBI.
Finch swatted a double and knocked in three runs. Camden Heinold scored three runs and stole three bases.
Gavin Bailey drew two runs and stole a base. Johnson stole a base and scored twice.
M-S’ season-long winning streak came to an end on Tuesday (Sept. 15) in the school’s regular-season finale at Mount Zion.
The outcome was determined in dramatic fashion just like the game from 24 hours earlier.
Mount Zion scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Bulldogs 6-5 in a walk-off before any outs were recorded.
Henry Wagner and Sanderson each had two hits for M-S. Wagner knocked in two runs and swatted a double. Johnson also delivered a double and drove in a run.
Heinold scored two runs.
Starter Mason Orton struck out five batters in four innings. Reliever Peyton Cox fanned two in two innings.
Wagner worked the seventh and yielded two hits and two walks.
M-S had captured a 5-4 lead with a run in the top of the seventh inning.
The Bulldogs (9-1) will return to action next week in Class 3A regional action and have earned the No. 1 seed. The team’s opening game will come in the semifinals at home on Tuesday (Sept. 22) against the winner of a game between fifth-seeded Unity and fourth-seeded Champaign Edison.
The semifinal winners will play in the regional championship game on Saturday (Sept. 26). If M-S wins in the semifinals, it will serve as the championship game host.
