Vandals end season showing resilience

The Vandalia baseball team had a brief winning streak halted last Thursday, but coach Luke Hohlt said the game was still a step forward, because the Vandals fought to the finish.

Knowing that game was one of the last before the regional tournament, Hohlt knew Vandalia would need to continue showing that resilience to pull off an upset at regionals.

The Vandals, however, would lose their season finale to Hillsboro on Friday, before dropping a first-round regional game to Litchfield, 3-1, on Monday to end the season.

Senior Matt Hoffman allowed just four hits and zero walks to Litchfield, but the Vandals' six hits on offense could not put them ahead.

Junior Nick Metzger led the offensive charge, with a 2-for-3 afternoon, and fellow junior Trevor Montgomery had the team's RBI.

The Vandals lost to Hillsboro, 12-1, on Friday, after allowing a nine-run second inning and collecting just four hits on offense.

Junior Dathan Berning had two of those hits.

Last Thursday, after allowing no hits in the top of the first and scoring three runs in the bottom of the frame against the Shells, it appeared the Vandals were on their way to a big win, but Vandalia committed six errors and the Shells pounded out nine hits over the final six innings of a 10-3 Roxana win.

“We had a little momentum shift,” Hohlt said. “We had guys on second and third with nobody out, and we failed to get them across.

That was in the second inning.

In the top of that frame, Hoffman allowed one run, but he pitched himself out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam.

He then walked to lead off the bottom of the inning and advanced to third after an error on a bunt by Dalton Wehrle.

Vandalia’s No. 1, 2 and 3 hitters could not score the run, however.

“You have to find ways to get runs across in that situation, but (not scoring is sometimes) going to happen,” Hohlt said.

Hoffman again found himself in a jam during the third inning.

Two runs had scored after a walk and two doubles, but Hoffman struck out the final two batters of the inning and stranded a runner on third to prevent the inning from becoming a landslide.

“You want to see that toughness out of your pitchers,” Hohlt said. “If we had made plays behind him, who knows what the score would have been.”

Errors contributed to runs in three of the four innings that Roxana scored, including a pair of miscues in the fifth inning that allowed the Shells to take an 8-3 lead.

Offensively, however, the Vandals did not count themselves out. Members of the team believed they would score more runs and cheered on every batter in the final three innings.

“This team has been impressing me lately with their resilience,” Hohlt said. “They are staying in it. We aren’t hanging our heads and getting hammered.

“We had the thought that we can get back in this game and tie it. You don’t ever give up until the last out is called, and that’s what we are seeing out of our guys.”

Last Wednesday, the Vandals got a conference win after beating Southwestern, 7-6.

Vandalia scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the victory.

The Vandals led 3-0 after the first three innings, but Piasa scored twice in each the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take a 6-4 lead.

Vandalia scored once in the sixth, before securing the game-winning runs.

Montgomery was 3-for-4, with two runs and two RBI, and junior Ian Murrell picked up the win.