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GREENFIELD - The Carrollton Hawks were well on their way to another victory on the young season, but the rain decided to put that on hold in Greenfield on Thursday afternoon.
Leading 10-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Greenfield-Northwestern Tigers, with Gavin Roberts at second base and Drake Stuart at the plate, relief pitcher, Garrett Settles had trouble planting his left foot on the mound. That caused the umpires to conference and eventually decided to postpone the game.
Because it is a Western Illinois Valley Conference game, per the WIVC rules, it must be played out to a full seven innings. Thus, the game will be resumed at a time to be announced.
As far as the game went, the Hawks further displayed their early-season dominance. After beating the Tigers 7-1 this past Tuesday, they remain undefeated at 8-0.
Gabe Jones tossed four and one-third innings of work allowing five hits and two runs (both earned) while striking out seven and walking three. If the result holds when the game is eventually picked back up, he’ll receive the win.
“I’m just trying to do what Coach K says, which is throw that first-pitch strike, get ahead of the batters, and trust my off-speed stuff which has really been helping me this year. It was working today,” Jones said. “So far I’ve surprised by our defense and pitching. A lot of guys have been striking out people more than they’ve been walking and throwing that first-pitch strike. Our whole pitching staff has been doing that, and then we also have a lot of good defense to back that up.”
The Hawks pitching staff has particularly been impressive. Through nine games, they’ve allowed a total of 11 runs (1.2 per game).
“The pitchers have been tremendous. The defense has been good enough. We’re excited where we’re at,” Carrollton coach Jeff Krumwiede said. “I’m glad that we’re doing well now because the sign of any good team is to beat the teams you're supposed to beat and to knock off every and now and again one that you’re not. I hope we’ll be prepared for that. Our record is looking good now, but we have a lot of things to work on.”
After starting the season at 3-3, Greenfield has been outscored 17-3 by Carrollton this week mixed in with an 8-7 loss to North Mac on Wednesday. The Tigers field perhaps the youngest team in the area with two seniors, one junior, four sophomores, and six freshmen.
“Basically [we have to] put it all together and back each other up and get quality at-bats, and keep plugging away,” Tigers coach John Goode said. “With this young talent we got I’m a little disappointed right now, but the future looks bright. We just got to step up and play older than we actually are.”
In the top of the first inning, Nathan Walker and Hunter Flowers both swatted two-run homers to give Carrollton an early 4-0 lead. Flowers ended up going 3-for-4 at the plate while Walker was 2-for-3 and each has three home runs this season.
After missing all of last season due to recovering from shoulder surgery, Flowers has gotten off to a fast start as he’s eased back into baseball quicker than expected.
“It’s all coming back pretty easy, and I’m glad we’re performing the way we are. This is fun,” Flowers said. “I think the way our defense clicks and the way we perform together and the way we’re putting the balls on the bats early is good for us.”
As a team, the Hawks collected 12 hits and saw 19 batters get on base.
After a rough first inning, Greenfield sophomore pitcher, Jacob Lansaw settled down tossing two straight shutout innings but would run into trouble in the top of the fourth. Carrollton freshman infielder, Gus Coonrod singled home Garrett Settles, and Walker later scored on an error making it 6-0.
Coonrod, who’s already established himself as an impact player, finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.
“He’s been up and down, but he bounces back because he’s a ballplayer,’ Krumwiede said about Coonrod. “He gives us real steady defense, and there are still some things about the game he’s got to learn, but hey, we’re extremely excited about Gus and what the next four years have in store.”
Lansaw helped himself at the plate in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run making it 6-1. However, the Hawks came back with four runs in the top of the fifth courtesy of runs-batted-in by Settles, Coonrod, Walker, and Ethan Brannan.
In the bottom half of the inning, Lansaw, who finished 2-for-3 at the plate, singled home fellow sophomore Clayton Woods who was 2-for-2 with a walk.
At 5:44 p.m. the game was postponed after two straight innings of constant rainfall.
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