MSJHS baseball bounces back to defeat Champaign St. Matthew
By FRED KRONER
One day after suffering its first loss of the season, the Mahomet-Seymour Junior High baseball team bounced back to deal Champaign St. Matthew its first loss this year.
On Tuesday (Aug. 29), the Bulldogs suffered a narrow 8-7 loss at Tolono Unity. On Wednesday (Aug 30), M-S topped St. Matthew, 10-2.
Against Unity, M-S trailed by margins of 5-2 and 8-3 before pulling within a run thanks to a four-run sixth inning.
The late rally was sparked by one RBI apiece from Colin Whooley and Camden Beedy as well as a two-run double by Bradley Jones.
Jones finished the game with a single, double and triple. Brennan Bailey collected two hits. Jack Wilks scored two runs. Marco Casillas reached base three times on walks.
Bailey took the pitching loss despite yielding just one earned run in three innings. He walked no one and struck out four hitters.
Against St. Matthew, Preston Clark made his first-ever pitching start and earned the win. He worked six innings, allowed three hits and four walks while fanning six batters.
Beedy lifted the Bulldogs into a 1-0 first-inning lead with an RBI-double. Casillas then crushed a two-run homer and the Bulldogs never trailed.
A second-inning highlight was Jones’ three-run triple.
Bailey and Whooley each totaled three hits. Casillas contributed two hits and has had multiple hits in six of his eight games.
Jones had three RBI. Beedy and Casillas each knocked in two runs.
On Saturday (Sept. 2), M-S split a doubleheader against two opponents, overpowering Bloomington Evans 12-5 and then falling to Chatham Glenwood, 12-2.
Against Evans, the bottom four hitters in the lineup were 9-for-13 and scored 11 runs.
Clark was 2-for-3 and scored four runs. Wilks was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Alex Johnson was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and Whooley was 3-for-4 with one run scored. Whooley drove in two runs.
Beedy had two hits and two RBI. Jones knocked in two runs. Casillas delivered one RBI and the team’s only extra-base hit, a triple.
Jones pitched 4 2/3 innings and walked two hitters while striking out five. He earned his third win.
Against Chatham Glenwood, Jones recorded two of the Bulldogs’ hits. Casillas had a double and an RBI. Whooley had one hit and stole a base.
M-S (8-2) returns to action on Wednesday (Sept. 6) at home against Champaign Franklin.
