Back-to-back errors cost Huskies 11-inning marathon

AURORA, O

re. - In Monday's nail-biting, hair-pulling, 'insert your nervous saying here' type of game at Bob Brack Stadium, both sides involved eagerly paced back and forth in their respective dugouts, awaiting what could happen in the close game. Both teams traded punches in the extra innings, but La Salle got the last laugh after consecutive North Marion errors led to a go-ahead Falcon run, a run which would prove to be the game-winning run. If either of those two plays would have been converted, who knows, we could be still playing now.

Junior Wyatt Moore was on the mound for North Marion in the contest, and he did not take long to get going, as he sat down eight of the first nine La Salle batters. In between Wyatt's pitching excellence, North Marion tried to get rolling offensively in the bottom of those innings, but they were struggling themselves also.

Finally a run was put on the board in the third inning, as North Marion put up one run to take the early advantage. The frame began when Kyle Williamson had one of his signature doubles to deep center field. Kyle was moved over by Zach off of a sac bunt. La Salle's pitcher, Aaron Bredl, made his first major mistake of the game, as with Kyle on third, he balked, sending home the Huskies' first run.

La Salle did not take long to answer as in the ensuing inning, they picked up two runs. North Marion felt lucky to get out of the inning with just the two runs of damage, as the Falcons had recorded four hits in the inning. From the other point of view, however, you could say that the Huskies felt unlucky as all of the hits and runs in the inning came with two outs recorded.

Apparently La Salle's head coach did not approve of the one-run-in-three-innings performance by the starting pitcher, as he brought in a relief pitcher to attempt to hold the Falcons' 1-0 lead. He did quickly retire the first two Huskies in the bottom of the fourth, but he ran into trouble with trying to record the third out, as he walked two consecutive batters. However, he did not allow anything after that, and the 2-1 lead was intact.

The Falcons picked up right where they left off when they came up to bat in the top of the fifth inning. An error, a base hit, and a walk loaded the bases with just one out. Although Moore did not allow any hits after that point, he did commit a balk once, thus giving up an extra run on the one-base reward.

With pressure to score building with each passing inning, senior Zach Williamson came up big in the bottom of the sixth. Danny Robles singled up the middle to achieve first, advanced to second on a stolen base, and advanced to third on a wold pitch. Two free passes were awarded on back-to-back batters to load the bases for Zach. The dire situation prompted a La Salle pitching change, adding to the challenge of converting for Zach at the plate. However, Zach stepped in and calmly singled to left-center field, plating two North Marion runs and forcing the late-game tie.

Right off the bat in extra innings, La Salle gave the Huskies a scare when a double put a runner on second base. The Falcon even advanced to third on the ensuing flyout, but Moore kept his composure and relied on his defense to make the third out, coming on a groundout to second base.

North Marion advanced runners into scoring position in both the eight and ninth innings, but perhaps their best shot to take the game in the tenth. Two outs were promptly recorded, but Brock Breshears singled and Kyle Williamson was walked, placing runners on first and second. La Salle again decided to make a pitching change with Zach Williamson stepping in to the batter's box, but Zach could not play hero again as he was forced to ground out.

Because of Wyatt's high pitch count, Spencer Beachy was brought in for relief as the game reached the eleventh inning, thus ending Moore's fantastic day. La Salle's second batter of that eleventh inning singled to right field. On a routine groundball, Breshears threw it away when attempting to get the runner out on second. This allowed the lead runner to advance to third, but the second runner was out trying to advance to second. One out away from getting out of the inning, a ball was again hit to second base, and Brock could not get a handle on this one either. On the play, La Salle's baserunner from third did have the opportunity to advance to third and he did so to put the Falcons in front 4-3. North Marion's last ditch effort was ended quickly and La Salle held on to a 4-3 win.

The highlight in the Huskies' camp was the pitching performance of Wyatt Moore. Wyatt ended up going ten innings which included 123 pitches. He only allowed two earned runs whilte striking out three in the no decision. The Huskies could only tally five hits as a team, coming from Kyle Williamson, Zach Williamson, Hopper, Robles, and Breshears. In retrospect, La Salle earned eight hits. North Marion also managed to leave fourteen runners on base, which is fourteen huge lost opportunities. Brandan Hopper was also notable on the base paths with his three stolen bases. The game took two hours and 49 minutes to complete, easily surpassing the previous high for the season.

North Marion is set to take on La Salle again Wednesday from La Salle at 5 p.m.

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