Mulberry Grove takes fifth at Egyptian-Illini Confernce Tournament

VANDALIA – The fifth-place game of the Egyptian-Illini Conference Tournament started with a no-hitter and ended with a slew of runs.

Mulberry Grove senior Nate Ketchem carried a no-hitter through the first four innings of last Wednesday’s game against Ramsey, but the teams combined for 15 hits and 15 runs in the final three innings of a 10-8 Aces win, their third of the season.

“Nate was going after guys,” said Mulberry Grove coach Chad Nelson. “He would get ahead, and then go off-speed late in the counts.”

Ketchem walked three and hit another in the first four innings, but he struck out four and didn’t allow a ball out of the infield.

Meanwhile, his offense was scoring with some consistency, posting four runs in the first four innings.

A double for Ketchem led to a run in the second, after an error was committed while he was stealing third base, and three singles and two walks helped produce two more runs in the third.

Jesse Sloan had an RBI single in the fourth.

But Ramsey was determined to make a comeback.

Junior Tylor Knisley, senior Ryan Black and senior Tyler Pryor had back-to-back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the top of the fifth to temporarily cut Mulberry Grove’s lead to one.

The Aces responded in the bottom of the frame, however, adding another three runs, including two on a single from Kyle Klawitter, who would later score on a wild pitch.

“I have been stressing this year, more than any year, about having that fight, because in baseball, if you get punched, you have to punch right back,” said Rams coach Tony Kreke. ‘We have to turn over that leaf, and get to that brand of baseball.”

Ramsey did show more fight in the sixth, though, scoring four two-out runs to tie the game at 7-7.

Colton Hunt had a double to start the offense, and he scored on a two-out single for Knisley. Black followed with a two-run single, and Knisley scored on a passed ball.

Black, the center fielder, and Knisley, the shortstop, turned a run-saving double play in the bottom of the sixth, with Black throwing out a runner at second after making a catch. One batter earlier, he lost track of a flyball to allow a runner to reach base.

“He lost a ball earlier, but he apologized,” Kreke said. “But I said, ‘You made up for it.’”

The run didn’t end up mattering, however, as the Aces added three runs in that inning, getting RBIs from Klawitter and Dalton Crisman, with the third run scoring a balk.

“That hasn’t happened a lot,” Nelson said of his team’s consistent scoring. “But we always try to score in the most innings.

“We’re getting better,” he said. “We keep making strides and have been swinging the bats pretty well.”

The Rams added a run in the bottom of the seventh when Austin Cunningham scored on a passed ball.

Wednesday, Sept. 19
at EIC Tournament
Mulberry Grove 10
Ramsey 8
R: 0-0-0-0-3-4-1—8-8-2
M: 0-1-2-1-3-3-X—10-13-2
WP: Ketchem; 7 IP, 6 K, 8 R, 7 ER, 8 H, 6 BB, 2 HBP
LP: Reiss; 1 2/3 IP, 1 K, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 HBP
Aces: Crisman, 3-for-4, RBI; Ketchem, 2-for-3, 2B, 3 runs, SB, BB; Sloan, 2-for-3, RBI, run, BB; Childress, 2-for-4, RBI, run; Goodin, 2-for-4, run; Klawitter, 1-for-3, 3 RBI, run; Miller, 1-for-4, 2 runs, SB; Korte, 2 BB, HBP, run, RBI.
Rams: Knisley, 2-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs, 2 SB, BB; Black, 2-for-3, 3 RBI, run, sac bunt; Pryor, 1-for-3, RBI, SB, HBP; Casey, 1-for-2, run, BB; Hunt, 1-for-4, 2B, run; Kessinger, 1-for-2, run, sac bunt, BB; Cunningham, 2 BB, run; Reiss, BB, run.