Baseball: Streator tops Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell 14-1 to open 2023 season

RURAL STREATOR – One of the better days so far this year weather-wise allowed the Streator and Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell baseball teams to open the 2023 baseball season Wednesday.

The Bulldogs used a solid three-inning start from junior Landon Muntz and two innings of scoreless relief from senior Cole Martin while collecting 11 hits and seven walks off five Warriors pitchers to post a 14-1 victory in five innings at the windy and chilly confines of Woodland School.

Muntz allowed six hits, one run, walked one and fanned four to earn the win. Martin gave up one hit, walked one and struck out a pair.

“Landon and Cole threw the ball very well today for us,” Streator coach Beau Albert said. “They are both back-end-of-the-rotation guys, but we’re going to need them through the season to pitch just like they did today. They both did an excellent job of just keeping the ball in and around the strike zone, and that’s exactly what we want them, and our entire pitching staff, to do.”

At the plate, Streator scored four runs in the first and fourth, three in the second, two in the fifth and one in the third.

Adam Williamson, Christian Benning (two RBIs) and Martin (double) each had two hits, with Williamson’s two-run double in the opening inning providing all the runs the Bulldogs would need. Brady Grabowski had an RBI double in the second and Noah Camp a run-scoring triple in the third.

“I thought as a team we put together a number of really good at-bats and overall swung the bats well. To come out in the opening game and put up 14 runs on 11 hits along with seven walks in the scorebook, I’ll take it.”

—  Streator baseball coach Beau Albert

In the fourth, bases-loaded walks by Logan Aukland (double) and Zander McCloskey preceded a pinch-hit two-run single by Brock Minkler. Williamson and Benning each knocked in runs in the fifth.

“We’ve had our pitchers throw live batting practice for a couple weeks now, so it was nice for our guys to face an arm in a different colored jersey,” Albert said. “I thought as a team we put together a number of really good at-bats and overall swung the bats well. To come out in the opening game and put up 14 runs on 11 hits along with seven walks in the scorebook, I’ll take it.”

WFC loaded the bases with one out in the first with singles from Carter Ewing and Mason Sterling and a walk by Reed Frazier, but Muntz then induced a comebacker that turned into a home-to-first double play. The Warriors also had runners on second and third with no outs in the second after Dylan Jenkins reached on an error and Ethan Schumm doubled to the gap in right, but Muntz recorded a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to end the threat.

“To be honest, I was nervous at the start, but it really didn’t take me too long to get into a groove and gain some confidence,” Muntz said. “I trust the guys behind me to make plays, so really it just comes down to me throwing strikes and hitting my spots. The biggest thing I took from today is trusting my pitches. I felt like I did pretty good.”

WFC scored its only run in the third when Frazier smoked a line-drive homer to straightaway left field.

The quintet of WFC pitchers – Ewing (2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 K, loss), Frazier (1 IP, 1 H 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K), Tucker Hill (1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), Schumm (1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K) and Sterling (1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2K) – had to pitch around five fielding errors

“We have some positives to take away from this game despite the outcome,” WFC coach Dan Essman said. “We had [seven hits], and a few of them were hit really hard which is something we struggled with last season. We were able to get five guys some time out on the mound, and while Streator hit the ball pretty well all day, I was happy with how all of our guys pitched.

“Errors were an issue, no doubt, and that is something we are going to have to keeping working on. Those miscues didn’t decide the game, but all of those errors are relatively routine plays that we have to make moving forward.”

Streator is scheduled to host Dunlap in its home opener Thursday, while WFC is to back at home against Gardner-South Wilmington on Friday.