Baseball: Streator rallies for ICE win over Manteno, completes sweep

STREATOR – Even when hits have been hard to come by, sometimes it takes just one knock to get a rally started.

That was the case for the Streator baseball team during Tuesday’s Illinois Central Eight Conference contest against Manteno at the SHS Athletic Fields.

Trailing by five runs heading into the bottom of the sixth, Landon Muntz’s leadoff solo homer to right-center off Panthers lefty starter Ryan Young sparked a six-run outburst to put the Bulldogs up one.

Then relief and winning pitcher Blaize Bressner sealed the 8-7 victory by striking out the final Panthers batter in the top of the seventh with the potential tying run on third.

The win improved Streator to 9-11 overall, 6-3 in league play and completed the two-game sweep of Manteno (13-2, 6-2), which entered the week unbeaten.

“We may have been getting a little tight there, but I feel like the home run and then the next couple of guys getting on really loosened everyone up. This was a really fun game to come back and get.”

—  Landon Muntz, Streator senior

“Things weren’t looking great. I figured [Young] would be a tough guy to come back on when we got behind. He was dealing and had us a little baffled,” Streator coach Beau Albert said. “But the kids stayed positive, started crowding the plate and started looking to hit the ball up the middle or the other way.

“I was really wondering how the group would respond after dropping a tough one in extra innings at Seneca last Friday. They showed they are a tough bunch the last two days.”

After Muntz’s round-tripper made it 7-3, Joe Hoekstra, Bressner and Keegan Angelico reached on infield singles to load the bases.

“I knew I made good contact, and the wind was blowing out that way, so I was hoping it would make it over,” Muntz said. “We had a couple of things go our way after my at-bat, but I feel like we made the chances for those things to happen by putting the ball in play.

“We may have been getting a little tight there, but I feel like the home run and then the next couple of guys getting on really loosened everyone up. This was a really fun game to come back and get.”

Pinch hitter Luke Bemont then coaxed a walk to bring in a run, and Zander McCloskey followed with an RBI single to make it 7-5. Jake Hagie drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, Cole Winterrowd drove in another run with a bloop base hit to right, and the go-ahead run scored on a throwing error on a grounder hit by Noah Camp.

In the seventh, Bressner allowed a leadoff single, but he sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a groundout to first.

“Pitching coach [Brennon] Martin and I were on the same page on how we wanted to go after that last hitter,” said Bressner, who went two innings, allowing two hits and one walk and striking out three. “We wanted to work him away and get a ground ball somewhere. But after he’d fouled off a couple outside pitches, I was able to hit my spot on the inside corner and freeze him.

“Landon’s homer definitely got everyone going, but I also think everyone on this team trusts each other. We believe we are never out of any game no matter the situation.”

Manteno scored three runs in the third off Bulldogs starter Clay Christoff (3 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) before the hosts answered with a two-run single by Winterrowd in the bottom of the frame. The Panthers then built a 7-2 advantage with one run in the fifth and two in the sixth off McCloskey (1 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K).

Streator is scheduled to be back in action Friday when it hosts Dunlap for a 4:30 p.m. first pitch.