Baseball 'Dogs start season off in style
Between the time Harrisburg hopped out of the dugout Monday and the time they lost 3-0 to Teutopolis in the Super Sectional on May 27th, 2019, a combined 686 days have passed since the Bulldogs played a baseball game.
That all changed Monday as Harrisburg opened the 2021 slate with a 10-0 win over Hardin County in five innings at Jay Thompson Field.
The Bulldog baseball team was part of the first of many sports that missed out on a season during the Corona pandemic and despite a lot of promise on what many considered a "state championship team," this version of Harrisburg still holds a lot of promise.
"First of all, it's just good to be here," Harrisburg head coach Jay Thompson said. "These kids are very excited and we've got a great group of guys and I'm glad it went well for them."
Defensively, Harrisburg (1-0) was led by a pair of pitchers in Peyton Arnold and Drew Hawkins as the two faced 15 Hardin County batters and struck out 12 of them.
Arnold (1-0) got the win, going three innings, tossing a no-hitter and striking out seven. Hawkins relieved Arnold and tossed two hitless innings, striking out five.
"We have a good group and I think our pitching is good," Thompson said of this year's ball club."We're good defensively and we swing the bat pretty well. We're a solid team. I knew Peyton would come out and give us a solid start, but he was even better than advertised. Hawk was brilliant. That kid has come so far from where he was at last year."
Offensively, the Bulldogs got the best of Gavin Smith (0-1), who took the loss for the Cougars.
Harrisburg put four runs on the board in the second inning, followed by five runs in the third.
Jackson Pittman put the cherry on top of Harrisburg's sundae with a solo shot to right center in the fifth inning for the 10-run rule.
Ben Brombaugh, who scored a run in the second and third inning, was 3-for-3 on the day, while Pitman was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and two RBI.
Javie Beal, Colby Morsre, Andrew Bittle and Luke Miller all had one hit. Miller also drove in two runs, while scoring one. Rider had two runs scored with a pair of walks and a stolen base, while Bittle scored a pair of runs as well.
Beal, who is part of a core senior group, was finally glad to get back on the field and more importantly, play in front of fans.
"It felt awesome to be back," Beal said. "We have pretty high expectations and I don't think we're going to sell ourselves short at all. I think we have a lot of talent and can go very far. We did lose a lot, but we also gained a lot. We have a lot more pitching and I can't wait to see what this season holds."
Noah Boon echoed many of Beal's sentiments regarding expectations.
"It's been tough, but we stuck to the grind," Boon said. "We've been grinding this extended offseason and I'm happy with what we did today. Coming out and getting the W is huge and it's a great start to the season."
Harrisburg returns to action Thursday when they travel to Goreville for a 4:30 p.m. game. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will travel to Effingham and face St. Jospeh-Ogden and Teutopolis, playing at Noon and 2 p.m.
Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.