Arcola falls to Buckley Dutchmasters twice as Roesch fires no-hitter in first game
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By Mike Monahan
ARCOLA – Sunday in a Eastern Illinois Baseball League doubleheader the Arcola High Power had two bright spots, one a 7-0 loss to defending champion Buckley Dutchmasters was the closest they have come to victory and without the four-run third it would have been closer. The problem this time was the pitching of Gibson City-Melvin Sibley graduate and southpaw, Braden Roesch,who pitched at the University of Illinois Springfield and just finished his career at Illinois State. Roesch, pitched a no-hitter as the Arcola struggled with the speed of his pitches on the humid day. Roesch had 22 strikeouts in the nine inning game. Only an error with one out in the fourth by Roesch, prevented the perfect game as Ethan Hall reached. Roesch threw 118 pitches, including 83 for strikes or a whopping 70 percent were strikes.
In the third the Dutchmasters started with a walk, a hit by pitch and nother walk to lead the bases.The last walk was on four straight pitches. Gavin Houchins, who will be a sophomore at Millikin and is a Central A&M grad, tripled to right, driving in three runs for a 4-0 lead. Andrew Zenner (who played at John A. Logan College in Carterville and is a Paxton-Buckley-Loda graduate) drove in Houchins with a single to right. With one out Arcola turned a double play on a rare 9-3-5-2 twin killing as Zenner was tagged out at home by catcher Dillon Patterson (a Meridian grad).
Roesch struck out the side in the third, eighth and ninth innings. Tanner Tompkins ( a graduate of Normal, who is a recent graduate of Concordia Nebraska University in Steward, Ne.) hit a home run in the eighth inning with two outs for the final run of the game.
In the second game Arcola fell 13-1 in a game called after five innings due to the 10-run rule.
Buckley scored three in the first, five in the second , four in the third and one in the fourth for their 13 runs as Tompkins was 2-for-4 with a three run homer in the third to make it 12-0. He ended the game with four runs batted in.
The High Power, who had been outscored 58-0 going into the second game got its first run of the season in the fifth when with one out Danny Powell reached on an error, Jose Vasquez, Jr. walked and Jorge George singled to load the bases. With two outs Powell scored when Stephano Rodriguez was hit by a pitch on the second pitch.
Buckley improved to 7-1, while Arcola is now 0-6 and travels to Paxton’s Memorial Field against the Paxton Swedes.
Game one: Buckley Dutchmasters 7, Arcola High Power 0
Buckley 104 001 010–7-7-1
Arcola 000 000 000–0-0-3
Winning pitcher: Braden Roesch 9 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 22 strikeouts, 0 walks.
Losing pitcher: Caleb Smith 2 innings, 4 hits, 5 runs, 0 strikeouts, 3 walks; Relief Brock Lyerly 7 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 1 strikeout, 3 walks
Game two: Buckley Dutchmasters 13, Arcola High Power 1
Buckley 354 10–13-9-1
Arcola 000 01–1-2-6
Winning pitcher: Colin Hartman 5 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 0 earned, 6 strikeouts, 3 walks
Losing pitcher: John Wright 2 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 12 runs, 7 earned, 1 strikeout, 4 walks: relief: George 2/3 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 strikeouts, 0 walks; . Louis Rodriguez 0 innings, 1 run, 0 strikeouts, 1 walk; Stephano Rodriguez 2 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, 0 walks
ARCOLA: Tyler Wineger 1-for-3; Stephano Rodriguez RBI; George 1-for-1