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EHS sweeps Newton, takes control of Apollo [Effingham Daily News, Ill.](Effingham Daily News (IL) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Apr. 13--Effingham High School stands alone atop the Apollo Conference baseball standings, extending its best league start in over 20 years with a 6-3, 6-2 sweep of Saturday's doubleheader with Newton at Paul Smith Field. Chad Green improved his personal pitching record to 3-0 with a 12-strikeout performance in the opener, while Tyler Ohnesorge picked up his first victory of the season with six solid innings in the nightcap. Brad Reedy had the strongest offensive day of any Flaming Heart; he singled and hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the first game before going 3-for-4 with a double, solo home run and three RBIs in the late game. Salem swept Charleston 1-0 and 8-7, leaving EHS as the only undefeated squad left in the league at 6-0 with a 7-1 overall mark. "It's definitely a good feeling," said Effingham coach Chris Fleener in regard to his team's league-leading position. "But we still have to take them one at a time. There are plenty of tough games left for us." Fleener has the Hearts 6-0 in the Apollo for the first time of his tenure as head coach at EHS, which began in 2000. The Flaming Hearts certainly have an inside track for the conference championship as the Apollo season nears the midway point; Olney swept Mount Zion 5-2 and 23-18 Saturday to improve to 4-2 along with Charleston, while Mount Zion and Salem are both 3-3. Effingham actually trailed 3-0 in the first game Saturday as Kyle Bailey drilled an opposite-field solo home run off Green in the second inning and Justin Swingler lined a two-out, two-run double in the fourth. The Hearts responded, however, as Green led off the bottom of the fourth with a too-hot-to-handle liner off the glove of Scott Jansen at second base and scored on Austin Mahaffey's triple over the head of center fielder A.J. Hyatt. Reedy's sacrifice fly on a nice running catch from Hyatt got the second run home; Effingham took advantage of some shoddy Eagles defense in the fifth to get three unearned runs and go ahead for good. "We were able to capitalize on a couple of their mistakes," said Fleener, whose club took advantage of three Newton miscues that inning and seven for the doubleheader. "That was when the momentum really got going our way." Newton coach Jason Fulton agreed. "We've had trouble with errors all year, and we can't seem to recover from them," said Fulton, whose club is now 5-8 with an 0-6 league mark in his first year at the helm. "We've got to take care of the little things. We have to work on fundamentals -- taking cuts, fielding ground balls and knowing how to execute situational plays." Green also hit an RBI double in the sixth, trading places with Derek Meinhart after Meinhart's two-out two-bagger. Green walked only one in his complete game pitching effort, although Newton's hitters worked a lot of counts to really elevate the junior righthander's pitch count. "Newton is a scrappy team," said Fleener. "Our pitching was pretty good, but we still need to execute better in several areas. We learned a lot about what we need to work on." Reedy's solo bomb in the second inning got the scoring started in game two; Ryne Gartner also drove in a run that inning as Tyler Pilcher walked, stole second and scored on Gartner's base hit to right. Ohnesorge doubled in an unearned run in the fifth, and Cody McCollum and Reedy hit back-to-back RBI doubles with two outs in the sixth to cap the scoring. On the hill, Ohnesorge scattered six hits and two walks in six innings, walking two and surrendering both runs in the sixth on Peyton Wyatt's two-run double. Austin Mahaffey walked one in the seventh, but also fanned one and didn't allow a hit to shut the door on Effingham's seventh consecutive victory. "I really feel we played with Effingham," said Fulton. "We went toe-to-toe with the best in the conference, we just didn't execute at times. The kids have to realize if they execute, they can be right there with teams like this." Effingham's hitting came back to earth Saturday, although it had 15 safeties in the two games. It still dropped the team batting average from .401 to .377 as several of the Hearts -- most of whom were off to remarkable starts -- saw marked drops in their personal averages. "We weren't in the groove of seeing a lot of live pitching," said Fleener, whose club hadn't played since last Saturday's sweep of Olney. "We got it done, though, and I don't care how we do it as long as we do it. Wins are wins." Effingham is scheduled to host Mattoon today, although the weather isn't looking particularly promising. Its next Apollo play is Saturday against visiting Paris, which is 2-2 in league play and had Saturday's action against Robinson postponed due to wet field conditions at the newly-revamped Laker Stadium in Paris. "Mattoon is a big game for us in terms of regional seedings, and Paris will be a couple big games," predicted Fleener. "It won't be easy to win any of those. We'll have to be a little better than we were (Saturday)." Dustin White can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or [email protected]. At Paul Smith Field Game One NEWTON ---------ab--r--h--bi Jansen 2b-----4--0--0--0 Brandenburg p--0--0--0--0 Trout p------4--0--0--0 McCoy 3b----4--1--1--0 Bailey 1b----2--2--1--1 Frohning c-----3--0--2--0 Woodard cr----0--0--0--0 Hunsaker rf----3--0--0--0 Swingler ss----3--0--2--2 Fehrenbacher lf--2--0--0--0 Wyatt lf-----1--0--0--0 Hyatt cf-----3--0--0--0 TOTALS-----29--3--6--3 EFFINGHAM ab--r--h--bi Cs Green ss--4--1--0--0 Meinhart c---4--2--2--0 Cd Green p---2--0--2--1 Gartner cr----0--2--0--0 Mahaffey 3b--4--1--1--1 McCollum 2b---2--0--0--0 Reedy cf-----2--0--1--1 Pilcher rf-----1--0--0--0 Ohnesorge 1b--2--0--1--0 Wohltman dh---2--0--0--0 Gadberry lf---0--0--0--0 Cook ph----1--0--0--0 TOTALS----24--6--7--3 Newton--010---200---0----3 Effingham--000---231---x----6 E -- Brandenburg, Trout, Hunsaker, Cs Green, Reedy. LOB -- Newton 6, Effingham 7. DP -- Newton 1. 2B -- McCoy, Swingler, Meinhart, Cd Green, Ohnesorge. 3B -- Mahaffey. HR -- Bailey (2nd, none on). SF -- Reedy. PITCHING SUMMARY ---------IP--H-R-ER-BB--SO Newton Trout (L, 1-2)----4--5--4--2--3---3 Brandenburg---2--2--2--1--2---1 -- Trout pitched to two batters in the fifth inning. Effingham Cd Green (W, 3-0)--7--6--3--3--1--12 WP -- Brandenburg. HBP -- Pilcher (by Brandenburg). U -- Craig Wise (HP), Dennis Douthit (1B), Dan Koester (3B). T -- 1:58. Game Two NEWTON -------ab--r--h--bi Trout ss---3--0--0--0 Hunsaker rf--0--0--0--0 Jansen 2b---4--0--0--0 McCoy 3b--4--0--3--0 Bailey 1b--3--0--1--0 Frohning c---2--1--0--0 Swingler rf--3--1--1--0 Wyatt lf---3--0--1--2 Kerner dh---2--0--0--0 Pittman p---0--0--0--0 Hyatt cf---2--0--0--0 TOTALS---26--2--6--2 EFFINGHAM ab--r--h--bi Cs Green---4--0--1--0 Meinhart c---4--0--1--0 Cd Green 1b--1--1--0--0 Mahaffey 3b--4--1--0--0 McCollum 2b--3--2--1--1 Reedy cf----4--1--3--3 Pilcher rf---2--1--0--0 Ohnesorge p--3--0--1--1 Gartner dh--2--0--1--1 Wohltman lf---0--0--0--0 TOTALS-----27--6--8--6 Newton--000---002---0----2 Effingham--021---012---x----6 E -- Trout 2, McCoy, Swingler. LOB -- Newton 7, Effingham 10. DP -- Newton 1. 2B -- Wyatt, Meinhart, McCollum, Reedy, Ohnesorge. HR -- Reedy (2nd, none on). SB -- Cs Green, Pilcher. SAC -- Frohning, McCollum. PITCHING SUMMARY ----------IP--H--R-ER-BB-SO Newton Pittman (L, 1-2)--3.1--5--3--2--3--2 Bailey------2.2--3--3--2--3--1 Effingham Ohnesorge (W, 1-1)--6--6--2--2--2--5 Mahaffey-------1--0--0--0--1--1 WP -- Bailey. PB -- Frohning. U -- Dan Koester (HP), Dennis Douthit (1B), Craig Wise (3B). T -- 1:51. |