Baseball: Parker Phillis’ tag, Landon Muntz’s complete game lead Streator past Peotone

STREATOR – When the bats aren’t quite in midseason form yet, sometimes a team has to be opportunistic – possibly even a little adventurous.

Streator leadoff man Parker Phillis was both in the bottom of the first inning Tuesday, tagging from third base on a short infield pop fly in foul territory to score the first and what proved to be the winning run of Streator’s 3-0 Illinois Central Eight Conference win over Peotone to complete the ICE sweep.

“Not even close,” Phillis said when asked if he’d ever tagged up on a ball that close – Christian Benning’s pop fly about 75 feet from home plate behind the Peotone dugout – after leading off the bottom of the first with a double and moving to third on an Adam Williamson single. “I saw the ball go up, and everyone takes a few seconds to see what happens.

“That was just a heads-up play by Phillis.”

—  Streator coach Beau Albert

“I see the pitcher sprinting off the mound thinking he’s going to make the play. The first baseman, it’s probably his play, so he was taking off to go get it. Then I see the catcher, he gives it a look, and then he takes off. Once the catcher’s gone, I’m taking [home], and there’s no angle for them anywhere hidden behind the dugout over there.”

“That was just a heads-up play by Phillis,” Bulldogs coach Beau Albert said. “He saw it when he was going back to the bag, he said, ‘Watch this.’ He’s always thinking the game of baseball.”

While the Bulldogs (5-2-1 overall, 3-1 ICE) would go on to add a pair of insurance runs in the fifth inning on Noah Camp’s two-run single to center when Peotone starter David Reidy (4.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 K) was pulled for reliever Dylan Sroka (1.2 IP, 0 R, 1 K), Phillis’ heady tag-up proved to be the only run Streator right-hander Landon Muntz (7 IP, 0 R, 7 K) would need during his two-hit, one-walk shutout.

“My fastball was good,” Muntz said. “I was missing my locations a little bit, but most of the time I was right there and just trusting my guys. I trust all my guys out there and don’t really get stressed. I know they’ll make plays, and I just try to throw strikes.”

It was Streator’s second straight complete-game pitching performance after Williamson went the distance – also surrendering only two hits – in the Bulldogs’ 7-1 win over the Blue Devils (0-6, 0-4) on Monday.

Reidy was right there with Muntz inning after inning Tuesday, allowing the aforementioned Phillis run in the bottom of the first but working out of runners-on jams in the second, third and fourth innings. He didn’t survive another jam in the fifth, however, walking Streator leadoff man Brady Grabowski and giving up a single to Williamson to put runners on the corners with nobody out.

A rundown on a grounder to third baseman Ruben Velasco erased Grabowski but still left two on, and Blue Devils coach Keith Coppens pulled Reidy for Sroka. Camp greeted the latter with his two-run single. Muntz then wiggled off the hook with two on in the top of the sixth and worked a 1-2-3 seventh – the second and third outs of which came on strong plays from second baseman Logan Aukland and Benning at shortstop – to close down the victory and stick Reidy with the tough-luck loss.

“David’s been a quality pitcher for us the past two years and started a lot of games for us last year and pitched in relief,” Coppens said. “He’s a quality pitcher, he knows the game, he plays well. Credit to [Streator], they took advantage when that play happened behind the dugout, and we didn’t have the angle, and scored a run on it.

“It was a good play by them ... and their pitcher battered the zone. Our guys put the ball in play a lot, but their guys made every play that was available.”

Reidy and Noah Cuthbertson each singled in the third to account for Peotone’s only hits.

Williamson and catcher Moe Bacon contributed two hits apiece for the Bulldogs, who are scheduled back in action at 10 a.m. Saturday against old NCIC rival Rochelle.

The Blue Devils play Thursday at home against St. Anne.