CARROLLTON - After having to cancel two games because of the rain, the Carrollton Hawks finally got a game in on Wednesday afternoon as they defeated their rivals, the Greenfield-Northwestern Tigers 11-3 at Lenz Field in Jacksonville.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
“We played a little stagnant for not playing for two days and the weather’s got everything messed up,” Carrollton head coach Greg Pohlman said. “I’m just glad we were able to come up here and play today.”
Cole Brannan went 2-for-3 that included a 3-run RBI double.
“I’ve been seeing the ball lately and I hope it carries on into the regionals and how far we go,” Brannan said.
Freshman, Nathan Walker was 2-for-4, scored three runs, and also smacked a 3-run RBI double as well.
Kolten Bottom toed the rubber for the Hawks and earned his eighth win of the season and now leads the team with an 8-1 record.
He threw 6.2 innings giving up three runs and five hits, while striking out 13 and walking two batters.
“Kolten pitched a great game, they hit him early on, but he gets better as the game goes on,” Pohlman said.
Greenfield came out hot and spotted Bottom for two runs in the top of the first inning.
“I always don’t really pitch as well as I do in the first inning,” Bottom said. “I always pitch better when I start going down the game.”
Never the less, the Hawks as they’ve done so all year, started off hot at the plate.
Alex Bowker, Walker, and Brannan all reached base to load the bases for Bottom, but he didn’t have to swing because Bowker and Walker scored on two consecutive wild pitches to tie the game up.
The Tigers managed to get out of the jam by getting a force out at second base and a strikeout to end the inning.
After Bottom struck out the side in the top of second inning, Carrollton loaded the bases up again for Walker and the freshman laced a line drive into the left field corner that cleared the bases, giving the Hawks a 5-2 lead.
Two batters later, Bottom singled to left field, which scored Walker.
Carrollton inflicted more damage to Greenfield in the bottom of the third.
Again with the bases juiced, Cole Brannan, the Hawks best hitter was due up and on the first pitched he roped a line drive into the left field corner and again cleared the bases for another 3-run double that made it 9-2.
The Tigers got a run back in the fifth inning and during that inning the Hawks flashed some leather.
The catcher, Hayden Stringer made an athletic play by adjusting his legs and digging a pitch out of the dirt and then threw out a Tiger trying to steal third base.
A couple pitches later, Bowker, at second base, made an impressive leaping catch which force him to landed on his back to rob a hitter of a base hit.
Carrollton added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Bottom was pulled with one out to go after he walked a batter and Blake Struble came on to pitch for the last out, except that he never threw a pitch.
He picked off the Greenfield runner to finish the game off, a rare ending.
Carrollton goes to 25-4 on the season and 7-0 in WIVC play.
They visit Cahokia today at 4:30 p.m. and then close out the regular season at home against Calhoun in their third attempt after two previous rain delays.
A victory over the Warriors will give Carrollton their first WIVC outright title since 2011.
“We’re coming to the time where we’re all shooting for the big prize at the end and if you don’t play games then you’re not going to be able to stay with what you got going on,” Pohlman said.
More like this:
