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Plano Struggles Through Tough Patch
Nelson’s Pitching Gem At Newark Salvages 1-3 Week

By Bill Lidinsky

On Tuesday April 4 they committed four errors and lost at home against Westmont 11-5. Two days later they were thoroughly embarrassed collecting only two hits in a 1-0 loss at Earlville.

After starting the season at 3-4 the Plano High School varsity boys baseball team experienced their two most frustrating defeats of the season.
The Reapers needed someone to step up and help reverse the negative trend. Plano looked to none other than junior number two starting pitcher Eric Nelson to take the mound on Saturday April 8 at Newark against a tough Norsemen squad. Nelson proved to be a “staff stopper” as he put on a masterful performance against one of the Little Ten Conference’s most highly thought of programs. Behind Nelson’s four hit shutout the Reapers blanked Newark 9-0 on just a miserable weather day for baseball.

Despite cold temperature and howling winds, the two teams played on. But the inclement conditions hardly had an effect on Nelson.
Through the first three innings the right hander struck out six Norsemen batters including five in a row at one point as Plano jumped out to an early 6-0 lead.
Seniors Shawn Gwilt and Brent Day along with junior Brook Bott each had two RBI apiece in the first two innings for the Reapers as they staked Nelson to the early advantage.

“I had hoped Eric would come out and duplicate the strong performance he had against Wilmington. Newark’s been hitting the ball very well and he was able to slow them down early by throwing strikes and having a lot of pop on the ball despite the cold weather,” said Plano head baseball coach Jim Schmidt.

The Reapers would add three more runs in the top of the sixth as Newark pitchers walked five straight Plano batters. The end result was a lopsided victory. But the true story was the dominant performance on the mound by Nelson (2-0) who went six strong shutout innings with seven strikeouts and only three walks. Senior reliever Kevin Klingberg helped Nelson out by retiring three batters in the seventh as Plano raised their overall record to 4-6.
“Somebody needed to step up to the challenge after we lost those two tough games to Westmont and Earlville. I was just glad I was able to do that and help the team get back in the win column,” Nelson said. “I tried not to let the weather get to me and just concentrated on pitching. We needed this game in a bad way and we all stepped up when we had to.”

Unfortunately the momentum that Nelson and Plano established did not last too long.

On Monday the Reapers faced another tough LTC foe in the form of the Serena Huskers. Serena brought an impressive 6-2 record into the ballgame at Plano with the reputation of scoring bunches of runs.

Reaper staff ace Nick Preston got the nod for Plano on the mound but was unable to silence the hot Husker bats.

Behind a 15 hit attack, Serena battered Reaper pitching for 17 runs. Senior Kyle Mason led the way for the Huskers with three hits and four RBI while junior Zach Terry knocked in three runs with three hits as Plano was outgunned 17-11 to fall to 4-7 overall while the Huskers upped their record to 7-2.
“We put the ball in play a lot today and Plano made some mistakes and we took advantage of that,” said Serena head baseball coach Chad Baker. “Chris Brandenburg did a good job pitching for us after the first two innings where he gave up six runs, four of which came on one hit. But (Brook) Bott’s a great hitter and he made Chris pay on a bad pitch.”

Bott’s first pitch grand slam off Brandenburg in the bottom of the second gave Plano a 6-4 advantage but it was still very early in the ballgame.
“You could tell there were going to be a lot of runs in this contest with the wind blowing out and all,” Bott said. “I just took a big hack at his first pitch to me in the second inning and it went out.”

But Serena got to Preston big time over the next two innings adding four runs in the third and eight in the fourth off Preston and reliever Josh Wright to make the score 16-7 with three innings to play.

“I thought we were in pretty good shape leading early. When you’ve got your number one pitcher going for you and you score 11 runs you better win,” Schmidt said. “But we made three costly errors and Nick didn’t have his good stuff today. We were able to pick him up offensively but we didn’t do it defensively. Unlike Friday’s win at Newark we gave a lot of free runs away and we’re not a ballclub that can afford to do that.”

Preston took the loss for the Reapers. He is now 1-3, while Brandenburg got the win for Serena to move to 1-0 on the year.

Bott led Plano going three-for-five with five RBI while senior leadoff man Matt Priesman also notched three hits including a solo homer to straight away center field in the sixth inning.

“I just closed my eyes and swung. The wind was blowing out and I was fortunate to get a hold of a good pitch,” Priesman said. “It’s too bad it had to go to a lost cause but we’re showing signs of being a great team. We’ve just got to put it all together now and string some wins together.”

Plano now moves on with three non conference games over the next few days. They hosted Kirkland-Hiawatha on Tuesday and will travel to South Beloit on Saturday for a 10a.m. double-header.

After that the Reapers will start their Interstate Eight Conference schedule with a road game next Monday at Seneca.

“I’m really happy with the way we’re starting to hit. We just have to put a complete game together,” Schmidt said. “We’ll bounce back. We started off slow last year and then we got on a roll. Our goal from here is to get back to 500 going into the conference schedule at Seneca. We’ve got to get these next three wins to get to 7-7. But we can’t take anything for granted. We found out against Earlville that if we don’t come to play, anything can happen. Hopefully we won’t let that happen again and we can respond after a very tough week.”

From the Ottawa Times

Serena 17, Plano 11

At Plano, the Huskers upped their record to 7-2 on the season with a nonconference road victory.

Zach Terry (three RBI) and Kyle Mason (four RBI) both had three hits apiece to lead the Serena offense. Isaiah Haines, Connor Finley and Cooper Westvig all added two hits each. Chris Brandenburg picked up the win in relief.

"We hit the ball really well," Huskers coach Chad Baker said. "We were able to move runners when we needed to and capitalized on some mistakes they made. So I was pretty happy with our performance today."

Matt Priesman (home run, three runs) and Brook Bott (home run, five RBI, two runs) both had three hits apiece to lead the Plano (4-7) offense. Shawn Gwilt added two doubles. Nick Preston was charge with the loss.


At Plano

Serena 17, Plano 11

SERENA (17) -- Kempiak p 4-1-1-2, Boyd 3b 4-3-1-0, Foreman ss 3-2-1-0, Haines cf 3-3-2-2, Finley 2b 4-2-2-2, Kueteman c 4-1-0-2, Terry lf 5-3-3-3, Mason 1b 5-1-3-4, Westvig rf 5-1-2-0, Brandenburg p 0-0-0-0. Totals 37-17-15-15.

PLANO (11) -- Priesman cf 4-3-3-1, Day lf 2-3-0-0, Bott ss 5-2-3-5, Gwilt 1b 5-1-2-1, Jensen rf 2-0-1-0, LeMaster 3b 0-0-0-0, Ferguson eh 1-0-1-0, Preston p 4-0-1-1, O'Hara c 4-0-0-1, Nelson 3b 2-0-0-0, Brown 3b 3-0-0-0, Wright 2b 0-2-0-0, Heller 1b 1-0-0-0. Totals 33-11-11-9.

Serena (7-2) 404 800 1 -- 17
Plano (4-7)  241 031 0 -- 11

E -- Serena 1, Plano 3. LOB -- Serena 6, Plano 10. 2B -- Haines 2, Kempiak, Foreman, Finley, Terry, Gwilt 2. HR -- Priesman, Bott. SB -- Kueteman 2, Foreman, Terry, Day 3, Priesman 2, Bott 2, Gwilt. HBP -- Priesman, Day, Wright. K -- Brandenburg 10, Kempiak 2, Preston 4, Wright 0, Gwilt 4, Klingberg 1. BB -- Brandenburg 6, Kempiak 1, Preston 5, Wright 2, Gwilt 2, Klingberg 1. WP -- Brandenburg. LP -- Preston.

Area Scores
Putnam County 10, Paw Paw 0

At Granville, The Bulldogs were no-hit in a nonconference contest against the Panthers.

Putnam County scored four times in bottom of the first inning and then put up five runs in the third, before scoring its final run in the sixth inning.

Cody Marks was dealt the loss on the mound. He allowed four earned runs, while striking out seven and walking three.


Indian Creek 9, Newark 5

At N Newark, the Norseman fell to the Timberwolves in a Little Ten Conference contest.

The game was tied at 4-4 heading into the top of the seventh inning, before Indian Creek scored four unearned runs in the frame to get the road victory.

Brian McGrath (double), Patrick Quantock, Kyle Janssen and Adam Marcley (two-run homer) all had two hits apiece for Newark (5-3, 1-1). Losing pitcher Mitch Dunlap homered.


Fieldcrest 3, El Paso/Gridley 0

At Minonk, the Knights improved to 2-0 in the Midstate Conference with a victory.

Fieldcrest plated all three of its runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Jake Martin went the distance on the mound, allowing only two seventh inning singles, to go along 16 strikeouts and one walk to record the win.

Kiel Melvin had a two-run double and scored a run to lead the Knights' (3-5, 2-0) offense

Seneca 18, Mendota 3 (5 inn)

At Seneca, the Fighting Irish evened their record at 7-7 on the season.

Seth Hobbs (triple), Garrett Callahan (home run, double, three RBI), Jered Ness (two doubles) and Tim Schmanske (home run, double, four RBI) all had two hits apiece to lead the Seneca offense. Matt Musser (three-run) and Alex Spicer (two-run) each homered. Ness worked all five innings on the mound to record the win, allowing two earned runs on six hits, to go along with five strikeouts and two walks.

"Ness threw really well for us today," Irish coach Kirk Houchin said. "The weather's warming up and our hitting is coming around. We're seeing the ball really well, and it's kind of contagious and everybody is starting to contribute.

"We're getting some good solid pitching and defense. I think we're playing our best baseball right now."