Sports
Plainfield South Crushes Minooka in a Rebound Rout
Plainfield South 17, Minooka 4: The Cougars took the Indians for 17 runs off of four pitchers in blowout.
got more than even on Wednesday.
After losing their home opener 4-1 to Minooka on Tuesday, the Cougars (8-4, 3-2) jumped all over the Indians on offense in a 17-4 rout. And they had plenty of help thanks to four double-plays and poor defense on the Indians' (9-5, 4-1) side.
“That’s the best we’ve hit the ball all year,” Cougars coach Phil Bodine said.
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Much of the credit or blame, depending on your point of view, goes to the Indians pitchers. Starter Trevor Machek ran into trouble immediately, surrendering five earned runs in a third of an inning, including a two-run homer by center fielder Darrell Collins. A base-running blunder by DH Jesse Small on a sac fly kept the damage from getting even worse.
“We didn’t pitch very well,” Indians coach Jeff Petrovic said. “We couldn’t get any balls down on the strike zone all day.”
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The Cougars added four in the second, going through all nine batters. After a scoreless third, the Cougars tacked on four more after the inning started with a fielding error by Indians third baseman Dakota Brown. Small hit a two-run homer to straightaway center field and shortstop Jake Roberts — who also had two 6-3 double plays — added a two-run double.
The hapless Indians had plenty of chances to add runners of their own. Cougars starter Nick Manetti struggled with his control, allowing eight hits and three walks over five innings. In the first and third, his middle infielders — Roberts and second baseman Eddie Nelson — minimized the damage.
“Our middle infielders, I believe, are Division I arms,” Bodine said.
The Indians managed to score three in the bottom of the fourth thanks to defensive miscues by the infield, but their own defensive woes came back to haunt them in the sixth as the Cougars added four more runs to end the game early.
The Cougars and Indians play the rubber match Thursday at Plainfield South.
“That’s the nice thing about baseball. We get to play 'em tomorrow,” Petrovic said. “We gotta bounce back, get an opportunity and take advantage of it.”
