Bulldogs extend winning streak to seven in a row

The Harrisburg baseball team has gotten its groove back the past two weeks. After starting the season with a 4-4 record, the team recorded four wins last week to extend its winning streak to seven and got its River-to-River Ohio Division schedule off to a great start with two wins.

“We’ve played very well for the last two weeks,” said Harrisburg coach Jay Thompson. “We are playing constantly, which gives kids a chance to settle in and get comfortable, so we’ve finally got in the groove. We still have a lot of room for improvement, but we’re coming closer all the time to where this team should be. We got good pitching all week.”

The Bulldogs (11-4, 2-0 Ohio Division) get back to work with a conference game at Herrin (1-12-1, 0-2 Ohio) Tuesday and a trip to West Frankfort (3-8) Thursday. The week ends with a road trip to Kentucky to play at the Graves County Tournament starting with a game against Lebanon (TN) (8-1) Friday afternoon and ending Saturday against Marshall County (3-7) from Benton, Ky., and Daviess County (6-4) from Owensboro, Ky.

“We’re into it now and will probably play five games most weeks,” Thompson said. “We expect to see some really good teams at Graves County. The only thing about Lebanon I know is that they are a big 4A school and supposedly they are in the top 10 in Tennessee.”

The Bulldogs opened last week at Massac County (8-5, 2-1 Ohio) with a 5-2 win over the Patriots to get its SIRR-Ohio Division schedule off to a good start.

“Conference games on the road are always tough,” Thompson said. “Massac played well, so we were glad to get out of there with a win. That was a big win for us.”

Braden Burtis made this third start on the mound and had his longest stint of the season, pitching a full six innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits and four walks. The senior right-hander improved to 3-1 on the season with his only loss being in his only appearance out of the bullpen.

“We needed Burtis to pitch well and he responded beautifully,” Thompson said. “That was his best of the year.”

The Bulldogs’ bats remained hot for the fourth game in a row, banging out 11 hits led by second baseman Ethan Golish going 3-for-4, including a double, and two RBIs and a run scored.

Catcher Jack Ford and left fielder Xander Robinson both went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Ford also had a double and scored two runs.

“Ethan has been really hot for a couple of weeks,” Thompson said. “Xander has been a pleasant addition. Jack got off to a slow start, but is starting to swing the bat.”

Harrisburg took the early lead with a run in the top of the first inning with Ford getting on with a one-out double to left and Golish following with a single to left to plate him.

The Bulldogs made it 2-0 in the second with Burtis helping himself by getting on with a two-out double. Aidan Hankins replaced him at second as a courtesy runner and scored when Robinson singled to right.

Harrisburg upped its lead to 3-0 in the third. Golish got it started with a leadoff ground ball single to left. Golish then stole second before tagging up and advancing to third on a pop fly to right one pitch later. First baseman Dawson Griffith brought him home with a ground ball single to left.

The Patriots cut the lead to one with two runs in the bottom of the third. Harrisburg got those two runs back in the top of the fourth. Robinson got it started with a one-out single to left.

After Ande replaced Robinson at first on a fielder’s choice ground ball to third, Ande stole second and Ford chased him home with a ground ball double to left. Golish then smacked the first pitch down the left field line for a double to send Ford across the plate.

Burtis set down the side in order in the fourth on nine pitches and pitched around a two-out walk in the fifth. He then set down the side in order again in the sixth on six pitches.

Burtis went back to the mound for the bottom of the seventh and walked the leadoff batter on five pitches. The second batter also reached base on a dropped pop fly leaving runners at first and second with no outs.

Noah Arnold came in from the bullpen and kept the runners there by striking out the first two batters he faced.  Arnold then walked the bases full, but got out of the jam on a called third strike on the next batter.

The Bulldogs continued their offensive resurgence two days later at The Jay, winning their fourth short-game of the season by beating Benton (3-12), 11-1 in five innings behind Golish’s first complete game of the season in two starts after throwing four in nine starts last year, including two that were also in short games.

The senior right-hander gave up one unearned run on two hits and two walks while tying his season-high five strikeouts. The Bulldogs fell behind 1-0 in the second inning on a botched pickoff attempt by Golish that put the runner in scoring position.

The offense was led by the No. 2-3-4-5 batters in the batting order with Ford, Golish, Griffith and Brendan Bergan finishing with two hits each as well as driving in six runs and scoring five runs.

“Golish was very sharp and the middle of the order really produced that day,” Thompson said.

Offensively, Harrisburg was stymied over the first three innings, but all that changed with an eight-run fourth inning helped by three errors, two passed balls and a wild pitch that led to six unearned runs.

Golish got it all started by leading off again with single and ending up at third on a throwing error on the relay by his counterpart on the mound. Four pitches later Griffith smacked his second home run of the season.

Following back-to-back singles by Bergan and Arnold and the first out of the inning, Burtis reached on an error by the third baseman that allowed Bergan to score, leaving Arnold at second and Burtis at first.

One out later Arnold scored on a passed ball before Ande reached on a error allowing Burtis to score to up the lead 5-1. After a Ford single and Ande scoring on a wild pitch, Golish helped his own cause with his first home run of the season — a two-run blast to center field — to cap the eight-run inning.

“Errors and passed balls are always nice gifts, but you can’t count on that,” Thompson said. “But we’ll sure take them when you get them.”

Harrisburg triggered the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth when Reed Rider and Burtis were hit to lead off the inning and then walked Owen Rann to load the bases and forced in a run by hitting Ande. Ford ended the game with a walk-off ground ball single up the middle to score Rann.

“That’s one of things we haven’t done great — it takes us awhile to get going,” Thompson said. “Our kids have done a great job with end-game adjustments.

The streaking Bulldogs improved to 2-0 in the River-to-River Ohio Division standings with an impressive 10-1 road win over Carterville (6-10, 1-1 Ohio) Friday night. Arnold improved to 4-1 on the season, pitching the first six innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts while giving up one run on two hits and a walk.

The Bulldogs took control from the first pitch, which was a ball to the leadoff batter, Ande, that led to a walk on five pitches. Ande then stole second on the second pitch to Ford and advanced to third on a wild pickoff attempt by the catcher and scored on a ground ball to right. Two outs later Golish, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice, scored on a base hit by Arnold.

“Until that day we had not done a good job scoring in the first inning, so that was a nice change for us,” Thompson said. “It gives your pitcher a little bit of breathing room. Noah was really good, except for one inning when he got a little wild — couldn’t control his breaking ball.”

The Bulldogs upped their lead to 5-0 in the second a fielder’s choice ground ball by Griffith followed by a two-out, two-run single by Bergan. Harrisburg added a run in the third on an error.

Harrisburg scored four runs in the sixth on a double by Ande following a leadoff single by Ian Crabb, a sacrifice fly by Golish, a sacrifice fly by Bergan and a ground ball fielder’s choice by Rider.

The week ended at The Jay with a 10-0 win over Hamilton County (5-7) with Rann (1-1) tossing a five-inning two-hit complete game shutout. The junior right-hander threw just 79 pitches, with 46 being strikes. He walked three batters and finished with a career-high 10 strikeouts. At the plate, Rann went 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI double.

“It was by far the best Owen has pitched for us — he was really good on the mound and swung the bat well,” Thompson said. “He seemed to be throwing harder and his breaking ball was good. That could be a huge lift for us. If he can continue to pitch like he did today it just makes us that much deeper.”

In three previous appearances, including two starts, Rann only had five total strikeouts with two being the most in any game. Last year in 11 appearances out of the bullpen, he finished with 16 total strikeouts with four being his previous game best.

Ford had two hits with two RBIs and two stolen bases. For Ford it was his fourth straight game with two hits and sixth with at least one hit as well as his fifth straight with at least one RBI.

Bergan drove in three runs on his first home run of the season — a two-out, three-run no-doubter on a 2-2 count in the bottom of the third — to double the Bulldogs lead to 6-0.

The Bulldogs took the lead in the first when Ande scored on a passed ball. In the second, Harrisburg scored two runs when Arnold scored on a passed ball and Rann doubled in Griffith with two outs.

Harrisburg upped its lead to 8-0 in the fourth on a bases clearing single by Ford after Rann led off with a ground ball single and Ande was hit by a pitch.

The Bulldogs scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth starting with a bases loaded, no outs, fielder’s choice ground ball to short by Ande, allowing Ande to reach base on the throw to the plate to try to get Xander Robinson, who had started the inning with a single after entering the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the inning, leaving the bases loaded.

One out later the 10-run rule was triggered when Golish lined to left field to drive in Aiden Hankins, who had entered the game in the top of fifth as a defensive replacement in right field, and was hit by a pitch to join Robinson on base.