Coal City baseball sees 10-game win streak end at hands of Plainfield North

PLAINFIELD – Plainfield North scored in only two innings Saturday in a 10-5 win over Coal City, and senior Brendan Henderson was in the middle of both rallies.

In the bottom of the third, Henderson followed a two-run double by Gavin Persson with a run-scoring single. He then scored on a two-run single by Matt McCormick as part of a six-run outburst that put the Tigers (8-3) ahead 6-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs before leadoff hitter Johnny Andretich walked to force in a run. After a short fly out to center, Persson lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score a run before Henderson doubled to deep left to score two more for a 10-2 lead.

“I didn’t think that ball was going to get out,” Henderson said about his double. “I caught it a little toward the handle, so I didn’t think it would go out, but I knew it would get over the outfielder’s head.

“We have done a good job as a team this year of putting the ball in play and not striking out. We have worked on that a lot, and it has really helped.

“Also, [starting pitcher] Jackson [Schlott] pitched real well. Our pitching has been getting better and better. About half of the team can go out there and pitch, and we have a lot of faith in anyone we put out there.”

Coal City (12-2) put up a pair of runs in the top of the fifth on a two-run single by sophomore Connor Henline, who was 4 for 4 on the day. That was the only damage the Coalers did against Schlott as they saw their 10-game winning streak end. The junior right-hander struck out eight in his five innings of work against just one walk while allowing six hits and two runs.

“Jackson threw the ball really well,” Plainfield North coach John Darlington said. “He has two pitches – a two-seam fastball and a curveball – and he threw strikes with both of them. Coal City is a good, well-coached team, and you have to throw strikes against them. Tanner Grimes did a good job of throwing strikes when he was in there, too.

“Our bats were pretty good the second time through the order, but we had some situations where we could have gotten a few more. We had the bases loaded with nobody out and the top of the order coming up. We scored a few, but we could have had more. We also had an inning where we had first and second with nobody out and didn’t score.

“We still need to work on having better at-bats.”

Coal City rallied in the top of the sixth, loading the bases on an error, a hit by pitch and a walk before Kellen Forsythe was hit by a pitch to score a run. A grounder to second by Drake Stewart brought home another run and another grounder to second by Lance Cuddy drove home the final Coalers run.

In the seventh, Grimes allowed a single to Henline before striking out the final three batters.

“We had some errors that hurt us,” Coal City coach Greg Wills said. “If we make those plays, it could have been a different game. Playing against a good 4A team like Plainfield North, you can’t give them extra outs or they will take advantage, and that’s what they did. That’s why we like playing games like these.

“Our two sophomores [Henline and Forsythe] threw the ball well against a good team. Connor did a good job of being aggressive when he was at the plate, too. He’s a good hitter, but we have been working with him to be a little more aggressive, and he has been doing a good job.”