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Monday, March 27, 2006    4:15PM

        1 2 3  4 5  R H E

Mendota 0 0 0  4 0  4 3 1

Plano   1 0 0  1 0  2 1 2

End of Inning (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)

Plano Bats Start Off As Cold As The Weather
Reapers Struggle At The Plate In Two Tough Opening Losses

By Bill Lidinsky

Anybody who follows spring high school baseball in Illinois knows that getting any good weather for play in late March and Early April is a sketchy proposition at best.

Even when your team does manage to see some sunshine and you can squeeze in a game, more likely than not it figures to be cold and sometimes very cold.
The later is what the Plano varsity boys ballclub has been faced with over the past two weeks. Not only have the outdoor temperatures been far below normal, so has been the level of heat coming off the Reapers bats.

After canceling four of their first six ballgames due to snow and cold temps, the Reapers did manage to find two days over the past week that “Mother Nature” just barely allowed for a baseball game to be played. Unfortunately, Plano’s offense has yet to come out of hibernation in those two frigid contest. As a result the Reapers have limped out of the gate in 2006 at 0-2.

On Thursday March 23, Plano dropped a 7-4 six inning contest at Yorkville where they could manage only four hits. Then on Monday at home the Reapers scratched out only one hit as they fell to Mendota 4-2 in five innings. Both contests saw frigid temperatures and ice cold Plano bats.

“With a little better weather I think those were two games we could have won. But we won’t use that as an excuse,” said Plano varsity baseball coach Jim Schmidt. “Our opponents had to play in it too and they were able to battle and win. Ultimately, when you only get five hits in two games you probably won’t see many victories.”

At Yorkville, Plano jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI triple by senior Shawn Gwilt that scored junior Brook Bott. Gwilt then scored from third on a double steal to give the Reapers the early advantage.

But Yorkville plated three runs in the bottom of the second. Two were unearned courtesy of two Plano errors and the Foxes led 3-2. Yorkville added a single run in the bottom of the third on Nick Tripp’s solo homer to make it 4-2 before the Reapers scored in the top of the fifth to cut the gap to 4-3. Senior Matt Priesman reached base on a bunt single. After a Yorkville balk Priesman scored on an error by the Foxes shortstop who misplayed senior Brent Day’s grounder and threw wildly to first.

But the floodgates opened up for Yorkville in the bottom of the fifth as the Foxes scored three runs, two of which came off the bat of Matt Kropp who stroked a double. David Sells then followed with an RBI double off Plano starter Nick Preston that scored Kropp and the Foxes were in command.

Plano added a run in the top of the sixth on senior Alex Jensen’s RBI single that scored junior Josh O’Hara. But it wasn’t enough as the Reapers went on to lose by three. Preston took the loss for Plano while Anthony Mendoza got the win for Yorkville pitching the last 2.2 innings, striking out five Reapers, and allowing only one earned run.

“It was a nip and tuck game. Hats off to the Mendoza kid who came in and threw strikes and that was the key,” Schmidt said. “He totally shut our bats down and we hurt ourselves with too many errors that led to runs for Yorkville.”

Plano suffered somewhat of the same fate on Monday at home versus Mendota. After jumping out 1-0 in the first inning on Gwilt’s RBI fielder’s choice that scored Priesman, the Reapers gave up four Trojan runs in the top of the fourth. Reaper junior starting pitcher Josh Wright was chased in favor of senior Kevin Klingberg who came in to relieve Wright who was struggling with control.

Klingberg quelled the storm but not until Mendota had tallied four runs to put the game out of reach.

Plano had the tying runs on in the bottom of the fifth. But Bott’s hard hit liner up the middle was knocked down by the Mendota pitcher for an out and Gwilt struck out swinging with runners on second and third as the Reapers fell to 0-2 on the early season campaign.

“Brook hit a shot at the Mendota pitcher and it hit his hand. Instead of bouncing off, the ball fell straight on the mound,” Schmidt said. “We’ve been the victim of some bad luck to start the year. Hopefully we can turn things around as we move forward in 2006.”

After the 0-2 start the Reapers hope to heat up with a Tuesday game at home versus Aurora Central Catholic. Plano will then jump into the Interstate Eight Conference play with a home-and-home series with the defending IHSA Class A State Champions Wilmington Wildcats. The Reapers will host Wilmington on Wednesday before traveling south to face the Wildcats on Friday on the road.

On Saturday Plano will then play host to Somonauk in a double-header that is scheduled for an 11a.m. start time.
All in all a tough road ahead for a team that has had some early struggles at the plate.

“I told our kids it’s not how we start, but how we finish. I believe we’ll get it together here and we’ll be fine,” Schmidt said. “We’ve just got to figure out who’s going to play and who’s going to do what especially on the mound. Despite the loss against Yorkville, Nick pitched well and he’ll be our ace this year. It’s just a matter of who will step up to help him and whether or not our bats can get heated up despite the cold temperatures we’ve faced so far this spring.”

Blanford's offense keys Sandwich

FROM STAFF REPORTS-Beacon News

T.C. Blanford had three hits, scored three runs, and drove home three more as Sandwich topped Fenton, 12-3, in a non-conference baseball game Monday. Lance Futrell also had three hits and scored three times for the Indians. Blanford also picked up a win on the mound, allowing no earned runs while striking out eight in a complete-game effort.

Mendota 4, Plano 2 — Shawn Gwilt and Will Brown each drove in a run for the Reapers.

Aurora Central Catholic 4, Yorkville 2 — The Chargers scored three runs in the sixth inning. Joe Smith and Pat McDowell had RBI singles for ACC. Nate Hemmerich doubled for the Chargers, 1-1, while Matt Kropp homered and both Steve Ford and Levi Hands doubled.

From Ottawa Times

MENDOTA 4, PLANO 2 (5 inn.)

At Plano, the Trojans picked up a nonconference road victory. Mendota scored all four of its runs in the top of the fourth inning. Plano taillied a run each first and fourth.

Grant Bowne (RBI), Davis and Blankenhag (double, run, two RBI) all had one hit apiece to account for all of the Trojan offense. Patrick Fisher allowed one earned run on one hit and struck out five to record the win on the mound. Eddie Espinoza notched the save.

Brent Day singled for the lone Reaper hit. Shawn Gwilt and Will Brown drove in the Plano runs. Josh Wright was charged with the loss.

SANDWICH 12, FENTON 3 (5 inn.)

At Sandwich, the Indians evened their record at 1-1 with a nonconference win.

Sandwich did the bulk of its damage in the bottom of the third and fourth innings, putting up nine of its runs.

Lance Futrell (three runs), winning pitcher T.C. Blanford (double, three runs, three RBI) and Rich McDowell (double, five RBI) all had three hits apiec to lead the Indians' offense.

Newark Makes History At Marquette
Janssen’s Gem Lifts Norsemen Over Crusaders For First Time In 11 Years

By Bill Lidinsky Kendall County Record

You have to go way back to the Spring of 1995 in order to find the last time a Newark High School varsity boys’ baseball team defeated their rival Ottawa Marquette.

Since then the Crusaders have owned the Norsemen on the ball diamond including a 21 run victory back in 2004

.
But the expectation in 2006 is quite different than in years past. This season Newark expected to beat Marquette and they did just that and in the process set their sights even higher for what may likely be a magic carpet ride this year for the boys in blue.

Behind an unflappable two hit pitching gem by junior staff ace Kyle Janssen, the Norsemen set the tone for the 06 season with a defining 6-2 victory over Marquette thus ending 11 years of futility against the Crusaders on Wednesday March 22 at Masinelli Field in Ottawa. The game marked the season opener for both ballclubs.

“Beating Marquette is certainly a huge confidence booster for us even though it was out first game. We’ve been pointing toward this game since day one in practice,” said Newark head baseball coach D.J. Cocks. “We saw that they were first on our schedule this year and we hadn’t beat them since 95, so we were definitely ready to show what a great team I believe we are. To defeat a quality opponent like Marquette in the manner that we did in our first game of the season surely sends a message to our kids that we can do big things this year.”

“Big” is certainly the word to describe the dominating complete game pitching performance of Janssen. In a breakout effort, the junior standout gave notice that he may be one of the best pitchers in the area as he completely stymied Marquette on the mound. The right-hander consistently mixed an extremely live, low fastball with a nasty breaking ball to keep the Crusaders off balance. All in all, Janssen struck out 11 Marquette batters including the last three he faced in the bottom of the seventh to close out his 120 pitch victory.

“Kyle was hitting every single strike low and they couldn’t touch him. Granted, he threw a lot more pitches than I wanted him to. But I had to let him finish it because he was getting so much stronger as the game wore on,” Cocks said. “Good grief, what a workhorse he was today. I can’t say enough about his performance. It was truly an unbelievable effort from a great competitor.”

Had it not been for a Newark error in the bottom of the third inning, Janssen would have notched a shutout. Marquette’s only two runs came in that inning and were unearned as a result. Janssen would yield only a leadoff single in the second and a lazy long fly double that landed inches inside the right field line that scored the two unearned Crusader runs in the third. Take away that and Janssen was true “cash” for Newark on the hill.

“I came out a little shaky the first two innings and didn’t settle in too well going deep in the count on too many batters,” Janssen said. “But come the third and fourth innings, I was able to get loosened up and I found my rhythm even though it was cold. I credit my teammates for playing great defense and also hitting well to support our cause.”

Newark jumped out to 3-0 lead with three runs in the top of the third. With one out junior Brian McGrath walked and moved to second as senior Patrick Quantock reached on an error. Janssen then grounded out to second moving both runners to second and third. Marquette then intentionally walked junior clean-up batter Mitch Dunlap to face catcher Adam Marcley. Marcley made the Crusaders pay for their ill advised decision with a two run single to left that scored McGrath and Quantock. Dunlap then scored on a wild pitch and the Norsemen were off and rolling.

“They’ll think twice before they do that again,” Marcley said. “I had to do my job and I was glad to get it done and get us off to a good start.”

After Marquette’s two unearned runs in the bottom of the third to make the score 3-2, Newark plated three more runs in the top of the fourth. Senior Drew Monkemeyer keyed the attack with a leadoff double and would later score as freshman Drew Tollefson bounced into a double play. But McGrath then walked and Quantock reached again on an error. That set the stage for RBI singles by Janssen and Dunlap which gave the Norsemen a 6-2 lead, one they would never relinquish.

Besides Marcley, Dunlap and Monkemeyer were the hitting stars. Dunlap was two-for-three with a double and the RBI in the fourth. Monkemeyer went three-for-three with two doubles and a single. All three Monkemeyer hits were frozen ropes for the right fielder who also played a flawless defensive game in an extremely tough sun field in right.

“This game was surely a game that makes a statement for Newark baseball. Hopefully people will now know that we are here and for real,” Monkemeyer said. “This win should bring us some respect from other teams. Even though it’s our first game we believe that this is just the start to what can become one of the best years in Newark baseball history.”

The inclement weather hampered the Norsemen’s momentum with four games being canceled as a result of the snow and cold. But a busy week now sits before them with a road contest on Wednesday at Hinckley-Big Rock followed by a home game on Thursday versus Gardner-South Wilmington. Newark will then host H-BR in a make-up game on Saturday before hosting Interstate Eight Conference foes Dwight on Monday and powerful Coal City on Tuesday. If “Mother Nature” is kind, the Norsemen should get a barometer as to where they rank as they face some tough ballclubs from the I-8 in the upcoming week of play.
“We’ll open Little Ten Conference play against H-BR. It’s a goal of ours to win league play so those two games are very important,” Cocks said. “But the games next week against the I-8 will definitely show us where we are at competitively. Hopefully with Kyle and Mitch on the mound we can show everyone that we’ll be a force to be reckoned with as we move forward on making this a very memorable year for Newark baseball.”