MSHS Baseball takes two on 10-run rule, Wade instrumental in win over Mattoon, Nichols enters record books

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

The Bulldogs posted two baseball wins by the 10-run rule on Saturday at Mount Zion.

Kobe Essien and Ben Greenberger picked up pitching wins in the 13-2 and 12-1 Apollo Conference sweep.

Five Bulldogs had hits in both games: Dawson Finch, Kyle Kinney, Jon Latham, Quinn Miller and Jordan Veldman.

Finch was 4-for-4 for the twin bill. Latham was 5-for-6 and Miller was 5-for-8. Kinney was 4-for-8 and swatted two doubles overall.

Veldman was 4-for-8 and belted his third home run of the season.

Essien and Finch split the first-game pitching duties.

Essien worked 2 1/3 innings, allowing two hits while walking four and striking out four.

Finch worked 4 2/3 innings and fanned seven while walking four. He permitted four hits.

In the second game, Greenberger pitched a five-inning complete game. He gave up four hits, walked two and struck out three.

M-S returns to action on Wednesday at Peru St. Bede.

Girls’ soccer

Maddy Wade was involved with six goals on Thursday as the Bulldogs remained unbeaten in Apollo Conference matches.

Wade scored four goals and assisted on two others as M-S topped Mattoon, 9-0.

M-S is 13-1 overall and 4-0 against Apollo opponents. The Bulldogs have outscored their league foes by a combined 33-2 margin.

Besides Wade’s exploits, Brooke Benson and Cayla Koerner each scored two goals. Haley Lester had the team’s other goal.

Brea Benson was credited with three assists, Lester had two and Koerner one.

Goalkeeper Noelle Bailey picked up one save.

For the season, Brea Benson, Koerner and Wade have all scored at least 15 goals.

M-S returns to action on Tuesday at home against Taylorville.

Boys’ track and field

Hunter Hendershot was a double winner for the Bulldogs on Saturday, helping the team to a sixth-place finish in the 24-school Springfield Capital City Classic.

Hendershot was victorious in the shot put (52 feet, 5 1/2 inches) and the discus (167-2).

Teammate Morrie Mendenhall was ninth in the shot put (44-0).

Another two-event placer for M-S was C.J. Shoaf. He took fifth in the high jump (6-2) and tied for sixth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.97).

Mathias Powell was the runner-up in the 1,600 meters (4:21.87).

The Bulldogs’ other points came in the pole vault.

Corey Cebulski was fifth and Colin Balbach was sixth. Each cleared 12-6.

Softball

The Bulldogs dropped an Apollo Conference doubleheader at home on Saturday against Mount Zion.

M-S (8-6) was limited to four hits in a 23-2 opening-game loss.

Sam Tamburo and Julia McNaught scored runs for the Bulldogs in the first game. Aubrie Shore drove in a run.

McNaught’s double was the team’s only extra-base hit.

Karley Yergler pitched three innings in the opener.

In the second game against the visiting Braves, McNaught had three hits in a 6-3 setback.

McNaught and Shore were the only Bulldogs with hits in both games. Three of McNaught’s four hits for the day went for doubles.

Tamburo, Shore and Ashley Campbell scored the M-S second-game runs.

Shore pitched all seven innings of the second  game. She struck out four and walked seven.

M-S returns to action today at home against Champaign Central.

Basketball

Lakeida Nichols left her name in the all-time record books following the conclusion of the ninth-annual girls’ Battle of the Border high school all-star series.

In last week’s series opener for Illinois, she broke the single-game record for field goals (six).

With two more baskets in Saturday’s finale at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin High School, Nichols tied the mark for the most field goals in a two-game series (eight).

She scored four points as Illinois topped Indiana 56-40 to split the two-game series. Indiana had won the opening game by a 16-point margin.

Nichols shared game rebounding honors in the last game of the series, with eight, as Illinois held a 33-24 edge on the boards.

While Nichols entered the record books, another former Bulldog lost his spot on Saturday.

In 2012, Reid Farchmin set the single-game boys’ Battle of the Border  scoring record with 29 points.

It took seven years, but the mark was shattered on Saturday when St. Thomas More’s Riley Morris hit a three-pointer with 90 seconds to play, lifting his game-high total to 29 points.

Morris helped Illinois to an 83-82 win.

On Sunday, another former M-S basketball player was on the roster in The News-Gazette All-Star game at Parklan  College.

Senior Kailyn Northrup was on Team Gold, which edged Team Black 45-43. Northrup did not score.