Baseball: Dixon escapes jams to defeat Byron

DIXON – All game long, the Byron offense put pressure on Dixon. And all game long, Dukes pitchers Max Clark and Quade Richards did their best Houdini impressions as escape artists.

With the help of some key strikeouts and solid defense behind them, the Dixon duo stranded multiple Tigers in scoring position in four different innings to lead the Dukes to a 5-2 victory in their Big Northern Conference game Monday at Veterans Memorial Field.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. Byron baseball ]

“It’s like a fight-or-flight feeling,” said Clark, who picked up the win. “Just trying to get out of jams, retire the side, get a big strikeout or let my defense make plays. Just make good pitches in pressure situations.”

“Our pitching was just phenomenal under pressure this game,” added catcher Aiden Wiseman, “and our team just comes together in tough times and pulls everyone through.”

It started right away for Byron (16-5, 9-4 BNC), as it loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first. But Clark got a strikeout and a groundout to escape unscathed, then went back out in the second with the lead after Ari Selmani smacked a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the inning for a 2-0 lead.

In the third, Byron had runners at second and third with two outs, but another Clark strikeout ended that inning.

The fourth saw the Tigers load the bases with two outs, then squeeze across a run on an infield single after a two-out error. But they left the bases loaded again, as Clark got a groundout to third to get out of the inning with the 2-1 lead still intact.

“I just had to bear down,” said Clark, who allowed one earned run and six hits, with five strikeouts and five walks in four-plus innings. “I definitely controlled my off-speed a lot more. My curveball was working, and I figured out that they couldn’t really make hard contact and barrel it up with the off-speed, so I mastered that in the first inning and just kept it going.”

Dixon (12-6, 11-2 BNC) got that run right back in the bottom of the fourth, as Richards led off with a single, moved to second on James Leslie’s sacrifice bunt, went to third on a wild pitch, then scored on Hunter Vacek’s fielder’s choice grounder to first base.

In the fifth, Byron’s first two hitters reached against Clark, and as he was nearing 100 pitches, the Dukes brought in Richards to relieve him. Richards gave up a single to the first hitter he faced to load the bases with nobody out.

But he got a ground ball to first base that was thrown home for the force out, then struck out the next two hitters to get out of the inning. However, Byron did score a run on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 3-2.

“We were just pitching to contact, and our defense was doing a good job behind us,” said Richards, who got the final nine outs for the save, allowing two hits and one walk with five strikeouts. “We were locating our pitches really well, and that’s what helped us a lot.”

Braden Smith got his third single of the game for Byron to lead off the top of the sixth, but Wiseman threw out the courtesy runner trying to steal second on strike three to the next hitter for a double play, then Richards got a groundout to first.

“It was frustrating that way. There were four innings that it seemed like we had a chance to break it open in a big spot, and we just couldn’t get over the hump,” Byron coach Dale Hartman said. “But we’re not going to hang our heads about it; that’s baseball sometimes, unfortunately. It’s contagious, and it felt like if one would’ve happened, three or four would’ve happened tonight.

“Credit to Dixon, they played a good ballgame.”

The Dukes added a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Richards led off with a double to right-center field, then Leslie laid down another bunt, but beat this one out for a single. Wiseman fouled off three two-strike pitches before roping an RBI double to right-center, then Bryce Feit laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt for a 5-2 lead.

“Bottom of the sixth, I felt like if we put up a couple of runs, that would seal the game pretty much, give me a bigger lead to work with in the seventh,” Richards said. “I just went up there wanting to get something started. I had a two-strike approach the whole at-bat: stance spread apart, quick hands, no step, so I could really have my timing down and hit his fastball.”

“We came together as a team and said, ‘OK, we’re going to put some runs on the board. We can hit this kid, let’s get it done,’ and we just went up there confident in ourselves and just stayed focused,” Wiseman added. “We got it done at the end.”

Richards issued a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh, but got a strikeout, a fielder’s choice grounder and then another strikeout to secure the win.

“The offense was there when we needed it, the defense was there all day, and it was just a great day of baseball for us,” Clark said.

Smith was also solid on the mound for Byron, allowing five runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, with 10 strikeouts, one walk and two hit batsmen. He gave up just one hit between the second and fifth innings.

“Fastball-slider combo was working today. They got a few hits here and there, props to them; I think they only hit one or two balls hard all day, and a couple fly balls with the wind blowing to right. But props to them, there’s nothing you can do about that,” Smith said. “That’s baseball. Timely hits are huge; they got a few, and we didn’t have as many, and honestly, that’s why they’re up 5-2.”