Baseball preview

Continued from page 9

While Castillo struck out eight over his four innings of work, Forreston managed to get enough baserunners to cause the Abby/Colby starter trouble. Five walks and six hits turned into four runs for the Cardinals in the early going, including a three-run second that put them in charge early. While Castillo managed to limit the damage following the big inning for the Cardinals, the lack of offense from the co-op meant they were still looking at a significant deficit heading into the later portions of the contest.

The Cardinals jumped on Nano Lopez in relief, tagging him for three earned runs in the bottom of the fifth. Without much going on offense for Abby/Colby, the 7-0 score turned out to be the final.

Castillo went 2-for-3 from the plate and walked once, Bargender added another hit and a walk in his four plate appearances and Koren Decker went 1-for-2 with a walk in the loss. While the co-op only had four hits, two hit batsmen and four walks also meant that they had opportunities with men on base but could not find a way to capitalize on them, leaving 11 runners stranded.

Chicago Hope Academy, 11-6

The final game of the tournament turned out to be their closest, but once again the co-op found itself on the wrong side of the scoreboard. A four-run top of the fifth turned things in favor of the Chicago Hope Academy Eagles and four more insurance runs in the top of the seventh helped seal their 11-6 victory over Abby-Colby.

After trading runs in the second, the co-op took the lead in the bottom of the third, pushing across two runs to take a 3-1 advantage. However, the Eagles were able to answer right back in the top of the fourth, adding two runs of their own to tie things back up. Abby/Colby was held without a run in the bottom half of the inning and the tide shifted in the fifth.

Chicago Hope Academy rattled off four hits while picking up two walks in the top of the frame, which eventually led to four runs for the Eagles. Now in a four run hole, the co-op needed an answer, but instead were held scoreless in the fifth and the sixth. While they managed to put up three runs in the bottom of the seventh, it was too little too late for Abby/Colby, as the Eagles had scored four more runs in the top of the frame.

Reis started on the mound, going four innings and giving up three earned runs on five hits and two walks. He also struck out four.

Nano Lopez was tagged with the loss, surrendering four runs on four hits in one inning on the mound. Lara also pitched in relief for the co-op, going two innings while striking out three and walking one. All four of his runs surrendered were unearned.

Castillo had another multi-hit game, going 3-for-4 and collecting his first extra base hit, a triple, of the season. Reis and Lopez also had extra base hits, both connecting for doubles in their appearances, with Lopez collecting a team high two RBIs. Bunkelman went 2-for-4 from the plate and scored a run while Bargender and Schreiber each collected a hit and came around to score.