TROY – Triad's Nick Beeler turned in a great pitching performance Monday afternoon in the Knights' 5-1 home win over Alton.
Beeler went the distance for THS in the win, conceding only three hits and an earned run in the win for the Knights; Beeler threw just 84 pitches and struck out seven in getting the win.
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A grand-slam homer from Travis Heilman in the bottom of the sixth broke a close game open for the Knights; up to that point, the game had been a tight affair, a third-inning run standing up, but making Beeler a bit uncomfortable. “That one run was a little sketchy, but I'm glad we got a little more in the last inning,” Beeler said. “I was trying my slider; it was a little rough in the first inning, but around the second, it starting having a late break and a lot of life.
“I started going to it more often and was mixing in a fastball here and there to keep them guessing.”
Beeler's pitches certainly helped his cause on the evening; the only run he gave up in the seventh was just baseball. “That happens,” Beeler said. “I'm just glad we got the 'W'.”
Beeler thinks the Knights' prospects going into next week's start of the IHSA Class 3A playoffs are good. “I think we've got a strong lineup right now,” Beeler said. “We are definitely hitting the ball hard and I think if we just keep putting the bat on the ball, we're going to be pretty good. Our top of the lineup is just killing the ball right now; hopefully we'll keep doing that.
“We're definitely playing pretty good this year; I'm glad we got to 20 (wins against Highland last week); now we're going to see just how high we can climb.”
Playing the Mississippi Valley Conference isn't the easiest of tasks; every team in the league is capable of doing big things across the course of a season. “Each team (in the MVC) has proven themselves this year and it was a tough conference.”
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