99th Article on the Independent

SECTION 3A BASEBALL: RTR outlasts MCC 1-0, advances to Section 3A championship game

CHRIS DRUMMOND

cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

MILROY — With a spot in the Section 3A championship game at stake, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and Murray County Central baseball teams knew they needed a strong pitching performance to get there. The Knights and Rebels both delivered.

RTR’s Hayden Gravley outdueled MCC’s Peyton Coulter, with each starter going seven innings. With neither side getting more than a few hits on offense, top-seeded RTR was able to take advantage of a trio of MCC errors and hang on against the second-seeded Rebels in a 1-0 victory on Tuesday.

With the win, RTR will take on the top seed in the North bracket, MACCRAY, on Thursday in the Section 3A championship game at 5 p.m. in Milroy. RTR and MACCRAY faced each other this past Saturday, with MACCRAY winning 5-2 in 10 innings.

RTR coach Josh Fredrickson talked about the championship rematch game with MACCRAY.

“We have to take one game at a time, one pitch at a time,” Fredrickson added. “Cody Wichmann will start for us and we have to put bats on the ball to give ourselves a chance.”

Gravley bounced back from Saturday’s loss with a strong performance, striking out eight and allowing one hit with no runs. Gravley also led the team in hits with two. After the first three innings went scoreless, MCC had an opportunity to get on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Gravley walked the first two batters of the inning and allowed an infield base hit to load the bases up for the Rebels with no outs. But Gravley would be able to get out of the jam, forcing a double play and a flyout to escape unscathed.

Fredrickson talked about how pivotal that sequence was.

“That was big, Hayden started off kind of rocky walking the first two batters,” Fredrickson said. “However, hats off to our guys for staying in the moment and exhibiting that mental toughness to get out of pressure situations. If we don’t make that play, we could be looking at a different outcome in the ballgame.”

In the next half-inning, RTR outfielder Dylan Anderson hit a hard ball and reached on an error and Jackson Christianson would score to give the Knights the only run scored in the ballgame.

The Rebels came in scoring 46 runs in five games and four of the five games scoring in the double digits. The bats wouldn’t wake up and this was the only time in the season where the Rebels were shut out. The Rebels also had more errors (3) than hits (1), causing them to be on the losing end. MCC head coach Nate Wieneke reflected on the loss and this season.

“Going into the game we talked about if you’re not willing to risk it all, you don’t deserve to win it,” Wieneke said.“Offensively, I’ve never seen this group struggled the way we did getting comfortable in the box. Getting Derek Kluis back next year is huge, he tore his ACL playing basketball and also the guys playing summer ball, fine-tuning their skills for next season will be key.”

Wieneke also talked about the impact of his seniors: first baseman Nathaniel Kleven, catcher Dawson Blankenship and pitcher/infielder Coulter on this team.

“Only in my second year as a varsity coach, but Nate, Dawson and Peyton meant everything to me,” Wieneke added.“They took charge in practice, they weren’t vocal leaders but led by example. Replacing those three will be tough and hopefully someone can step up to fill those shoes, they’ve made a huge impact on team.”

Coulter only allowed one run with four hits and struck out 10 in the loss.

RTR 000 010 0 – 1

MCC 000 000 0 – 0

Hitting: RTR (Gravley 2-4; Anderson 1-3, RBI; Blake Christianson 1-3); MCC (Degreef 1-3).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): RTR (Gravley 7-0-0-1-3-8); MCC (Coulter 7-0-1-4-3-10).