Williams, Butcher help ALAH hold off Arcola 4-2

By Editor | May 5, 2026 |

Sitting down on the job??? No, actually Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond starting pitcher Marcus Otto just made a put out on a comebacker by Argenta-Oreana’s first batter in the Knights’ home game on Tuesday, April 28. Marcus pitched an outstanding game going five innings in the complete game, giving up no hits or walks and striking out four. The Knights defeated the Bombers in five 10-0.

By Mike Monahan

ARCOLA – Thursday in a Lincoln Prairie Conference baseball game Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond built up a 4-0 lead after five innings. The four runs held up as the Purple Riders scored a run in the sixth and a run in the seventh, but could not get anymore as the Knights won 4-2. In the process earned the Route 133 Showdown Trophy (traveling trophy for all games between Arcola and ALAH except in golf and track). Strong pitching by John Williams and Lucas Butcher helped the Knights to the victory.

Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond at Arcola, Thursday

ALAH scored in the first inning on a passed ball as Williams scored. The Knights added a second run in the second with one out Lucas Butcher singled to left and after the second strikeout of the inning and fourth of the game by Arcola’s Brevyn Whisman, the no. 9 batter, Logan Schrock, a senior, came through with a double to center, scoring Butcher.

“Two outs and a runner on second and he comes out there and competes and hits that ball to right/center,” said ALAH coach David McGrath. “We moved him down to the No. 9 spot and kind of let him relax a little bit. In the last two weeks he has really taken advantage of it. He has been one of those hitters that has hit the ball hard in multiple at-bats, but right at someone. In the last couple of games he is finding the spots.”

Schrock is batting .249 on the season, but is 6-of-12 .500 in the last four games with five runs batted in.

In the third for ALAH with two outs Otto walked, moved to second on a passed ball as well as third when the Purple Riders got out the inning with a strikeout.

Arcola did not get its first base runner until the fifth when Brody Phillips started the inning by reaching on an error. Whisman walked, but before that the Knights threw out Phillips attempting to seal second. Whisman was also caught trying to steal for the third out.

The Knights increased the lead to 4-0 scoring two runs without the benefit of a hit. Williams walked and after a ground out Max Boddy sacrificed Willams in and reached first on the squeeze bunt. With two outs Jansen Burnett was hit by a pitch on the first pitch and Kody Burdick reached on an error as Boddy scored.

“We pride ourselves in base running,” said McGrath. “So passed balls and things like that we try and take advantage of that. When you are facing a team and you are seeing their top one and two pitchers we are not probably going to rack up 10-12 hits and win by 10 runs. It is going to be a close game and a dogfight. I thought we did well working counts. I thought we did well battling deep in the at-bat and scratching out some hits and took advantage of things we could where we could. “

Arcola erased the goose egg in the sixth when Brody Drake led off with the first hit of the game for the Purple Riders. He went to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a ground out. He scored on a single to center by Phillips.

In the seventh Jackson Griffith reached on an error to start things off. With one out Kaden Hohlbauch walked on four straight pitches and with two outs the bases became loaded as Brody Drake walked. Will Biggs earned a run batted in the hard way, by being hit by a pitch. However, the game ended on a ground out.

“It is the second time in a row where we threatened late in the game and both times didn’t,” said Arcola coach Mike Phillips, whose team is 6-9 overall and 3-3 in the LPC, good for fifth place out of 11 teams. “Today, it was mental mistakes on the field and on the basepaths too. You can’t make those kind of mistakes. You can’t fall asleep on the basepaths. We hit the ball out of the infield just four times. It was the simple things and they were able to do it and we were not.”

Arcola drops to 3-7 in games decided by three runs or less, while the Knights improved to 16-6 overall and 7- 1 in the conference. It was the closest ALAH game since a 6-2 loss to Okaw Valley on April 20. The average margin for the Knights against its opponent was 13-3 prior to the game at Arcola’s Kelly Moore Memorial Park.

“We have been stressing to our pitchers about first pitch strikes and working ahead in counts,” said McGrath. “He (Williams) has been a pitcher all year that has done that consistently. In the last couple of outings he got hit around a little bit, but I thought he did a good job of keeping the hitters off-balance. Arcola’s 1-2-3-4 hitters are forces. I thought he did a real good job of keeping them off-balance and working ahead at the same time.”

Williams threw 81 pitches and 53 for strikes. Butcher came in relief and threw just four pitches, all for strikes.

“Brevyn Whisman pitched well he had one inning where he settled down and got out of a bases loaded jam with one run,” said Phillips. We just couldn’t hit. Brody Phillips pitched well and I was glad to see that. I thought we played a little timid today. We had the energy, but were just timid in the field.”

ALAH’’s No. 7-No. 9 batters (Butcher, Donovan Vanausdoll and Schrock) were a combined 3-for-7 (.429) with a double and a run batted in. The rest of the team was 2-for-17 (118).

“I was very impressed with the lower part of the lineup today, “ said McGrath.

Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond 4, Arcola 2
ALAH 110 020 0–4-7-2
Arcola 000 001 1–2-2-3

Winning pitcher: John Williams 6 ⅔ innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 8 strikeouts, 3 walks; relief Lucas Butcher ⅓ inning, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 strikeouts, 0 walks

Losing pitcher: Brevyn Whisman 5 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 2 earned, 6 strikeouts, 5 walks; relief: Brody Phillips 2 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 strikeouts, 0 walks

ALAH: Williams 2 runs; Max Boddy 1-for-3, run, RBI; Marcus Otto 2-for-3; Butcher 1-for-2, run; Donovan Vanausdoll 1-for-2; Logan Schrock 2-for-3 double, RBI

ARCOLA: Phillips 1-for-3, RBI; Jackson Griffith run; Brody Drake 1-for-2, run