PAXTON – Sunday’s Eastern Illinois Baseball League doubleheader between the Paxton Swedes and Buckley Dutchmasters was, according to Swedes manager Mark Prina, “what EI baseball should be.”
In front of a Memorial Field crowd occupying the entirety of the perimeter between the left- and right-field poles saw the Swedes and Dutchmasters split their doubleheader with each team claiming a win by only one run. Paxton won 5-4 in Game 1 before taking Buckley to an extra inning in Game 2 en route to a 1-0 win for Buckley.
“It was a great baseball day for our Paxton-Buckley-Loda community to have two teams in this league that can compete like that and put on a good show for the fans and to have our sidelines alive again,” Prina said.
“It was just a great atmosphere, a great ballgame. Both sidelines were going great. I wish it could be like this every week in this league. Some of these guys who are new to our league haven’t seen this, and I think they enjoyed every minute of it. They were having a great time. I think they handled themselves well today.”
The Game 1 win snapped a 19-game winning streak by the Dutchmasters in the archrival matchup, with the Swedes’ previous win against Buckley taking place on May 29, 2022.
“It feels pretty good,” Swedes leftfielder Bryar Cosgrove said. “I’ve got a couple of buddies on there, so it’s fun to play against them and to have this rivalry and to keep it going through the years.”
In their previous meeting on June 8, Buckley swept Paxton by a combined score of 22-2. Afterwards, Prina, whose Swedes won their seventh straight game with their Game 1 victory on Sunday, said he had his calendar marked for his team’s rematch.
“I said our job is to figure this out by the time we play them again,” Prina said. “Then hopefully, we can be good enough that we can compete with them, and we did just that. We beat them in a really good game, and then they beat us in a really good game. We just got the job done in the first game and just fell a little short in the second game, but we competed the whole time.”
Prior to the first game, the Swedes held a moment of silence for Jim Fox, one of the members of the original Swedes squad who passed away two weeks prior to the twinbill.
“I think we made him proud today,” Prina said. “He would have loved to watch that one.”
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The Swedes (7-5) rallied from a 4-2 deficit with three runs in the eighth inning.
Thomas Schwartz led off with a line-drive single to right field and Charlie Hobbs was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Bryar Cosgrove hit a single to center field to send Griffin Walters – Schwartz’s courtesy runner – across home plate.
Cosgrove, who graduated from Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School last spring, finished the game hitting 3-for-4.
“I haven’t been playing the best, so it feels good to finally get going again,” Cosgrove said.
In the next at-bat, Alex Barney – who entered the game as a pinch hitter for Gavin Schunke – hit another single to center field to send Hobbs across home plate.
“It felt good to finally swing the bat,” Barney said.
The Swedes entered the game with a full roster, allowing Barney – a six-year EI League veteran – some time to rest.
“Us older guys don’t have to play the whole time,” Barney said.
Cosgrove scored what would be the game-winning run on Barney’s hit as he was waved around by Prina before eluding a tag attempt by Dutchmasters catcher Zach Price.
“I didn’t know how close it was going to be,” Cosgrove said. “I was just happy we scored. It feels good.”
In Game 2, Josh Krumwiede returned the favor for the Dutchmasters (9-5), singling to left field with two outs in the eighth inning.
“They had a couple of clutch hits in the later innings in the first game, and that’s what pushed them over the top,” Krumwiede said. “We were able to pay them back in the second game.”
“Josh Krumwiede hit a bunch of balls on the barrel today and ended up getting the big one that we needed,” Dutchmasters manager Jimmy Brandt added.
Hunter Brewer drew a one-out walk and Charles Cambridge singled to right field prior to Krumwiede’s RBI hit.
“Give those guys credit for being on in that situation to give us a chance to drive a run in,” Krumwiede said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of baserunners, but thankfully, we were able to get some in the last couple of innings. Some timely hits with guys on base usually means something good can happen, and that’s what happened.”
Krumwiede hit his RBI single with an 0-2 count.
“Luckily, I was able to put the barrel on it, and it found the hole. It was probably not one of the better-hit balls I hit today, but that’s baseball,” Krumwiede said. “You’re just trying to battle in those spots. In a game like that, you have a pretty good feeling that one run could win the game. With Shoven going back out in the last inning, we knew if we could just get one run, we had a pretty good chance. It all came together.”
Prina said he and his pitcher — Payton Harwood, who relieved Eli Schmitt — talked about possibly walking Krumwiede intentionally, but opted not to with an 0-2 count.
“(The pitch) was off the plate, but he just knows how to get the barrel on it,” Prina said. “Tip your hit to him. Sometimes, you’re the goat. Sometimes, you’re the hero when you come in relief like that. He did nothing wrong. They just beat us. They got the hit to beat us.”
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Luke Shoven pitched a no-hitter for Buckley in Game 2, striking out 11 batters and walking four.
“It was a great team win,” Shoven said. “I’m just glad I was able to help out the team.”
Shoven threw 111 pitches in the process.
“It was fun,” Shoven said. “My arm’s going to be feeling it tomorrow, but it was a fun day. It was a good day overall. I wish we could have got that first game, but I’m just glad we snuck out in that second game. Hopefully, we can keep it rolling from here.”
Hobbs drew a leadoff walk in the second inning and Walters drew a two-out walk, but Schunke grounded out to the second baseman Krumwiede.
From there, Shoven retired the next six batters before Bumpous drew a leadoff walk in the fifth inning. Shoven then struck out the next three batters.
In the sixth inning, to Buckley errors put runners on the corners with two outs, but Nolan Remole popped out to the shortstop Brewer for the third out. Shoven then retired all six batters through the seventh and eighth innings, striking out Schunke to end the seventh and Barney to conclude the game.
“You’ve got to give a ton of credit to Luke Shoven for strapping it down and keeping us in that game for the entirety,” Brandt said.
“We couldn’t get that one big hit that we needed, and that was the difference,” Prina added. “It’s tough to win when you don’t get a hit. We put the ball in play against him.”
Meanwhile, for the Swedes, Eli Schmitt allowed one earned run on seven hits and two walks with seven strikeouts through 7 1/3 innings.
The Swedes also pulled off a 4-6-3 double play in the third inning and Bumpous made a diving catch on a fly ball hit by Andrew Schweigert for the second out of the fourth inning.
“You’ve got to give Shoven a bunch of credit for keeping us in the game, and their guy had a really good game, too,” Krumwiede said.
“Both pitchers put on a show,” Prina added.
In Game 1, Alec Nicholos started for the Swedes, allowing three runs – one earned – on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts through five innings. Caleb Clutteur earned the win in relief, allowing one earned run on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts through four innings.
For Buckley, Braden Roesch struck out 15 batters and walked five while allowing two earned runs on three hits through six innings. Altin Nettleton allowed three earned runs on two hits and no walks with two strikeouts through 1 2/3 innings while Shoven allowed no runs on one hit and no walks through one-third of an inning.
Both teams pitched through light rain in Game 1 that, at one point in the fifth inning, resulted in Thomas Schwartz losing his bat as he struck out to end the inning.
“The pitching was pretty good all day,” Prina said. “There were some miscues defensively because of it, but both teams battled through it.”
***
In the first inning of Game 1, Drake Schrodt drew a leadoff walk and Tuff Elson singled to center field before Schrodt scored on a Brewer groundout. In the fourth inning, Cambridge was hit by a pitch, Krumwiede reached base on an error and Schweigert loaded the bases with a bunt single.
Cambridge scored as J.D. Brammeier grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Rylan Pheifer then sent Krumwiede home with an infield single.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Schwartz drew a one-out walk before Walters scored on a Hobbs single to right field. Cosgrove then hit a two-out single to right field to send Hobbs across home plate to cut the Swedes’ deficit to 3-2.
In the top of the seventh inning, Price was hit by a pitch and Elson hit a one-out single to center field before Brewer singled to left field to send Cole Eshleman across home plate to make it 4-2.
“We just keep putting ourselves in position to win,” Krumwiede said. “We did it in the first game, but it doesn’t always work out.
“Those were two really good, exciting baseball games,” Brandt added. “Unfortunately, we didn’t quite execute how we wanted to in the first game, and it came back to bite us. We needed a split after Game 1, for sure.”
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The Swedes will host the Danville Dirtbags next Sunday before concluding their regular season at Arcola against the High Power on July 27.
“We proved that we can compete every weekend,” Prina said. “Now it’s just about continuing to have the consistency of the right group of guys showing up the rest of this summer.”
The Dutchmasters’ final doubleheader of the regular season will be at home against Arcola next Sunday.
“We’re just trying to make sure that we’re taking care of what we need to take care of and playing good baseball,” Brandt said. “We’ve still got some work to do. We’re just trying to win one game at a time. We’re not looking ahead at the moment. We’re just going game by game and inning by inning.”
The Royal Giants (9-3) remain in first place in the EI League standings after their doubleheader at Arcola on Sunday was postponed due to rain.
“Royal’s playing really well right now, and Paxton is, too,” Krumwiede said. “The tournament’s going to be very interesting. We’ll see in the next couple of weeks.”
If the standings remain in their current form, the Swedes and Dutchmasters could meet in the EI League Tournament semifinals on Aug. 3.
“I think we would love to have that opportunity,” Prina said. “I know our guys would like to have the opportunity to come back and compete against them one more time.”
“It’s going to be really exciting,” Brandt added. “It’s great for the league to have a bunch of teams that are really competitive and fighting with each other every single week. For the league’s sake, that’s the best-case scenario. Everybody’s grinding it out trying to win every game they can and get themselves in the best position possible when the tournament comes.”
Game 1
Paxton Swedes 5, Buckley Dutchmasters 4
BUCK 100 200 100 — 4 10 1
PAX 000 200 030 — 5 6 4
W – Caleb Clutteur, 4 IP, 4 H, ER, 5 K, BB. L – Altin Nettleton, 1.2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 0 BB.
Buckley – Drake Schrodt 1-4, R. Tuff Elson 2-5. Hunter Brewer 2-4, 2 RBIs. Charles Cambridge 1-4, R. Josh Krumwiede R. Andrew Schweigert 2-5, 2B. Rylan Pheifer 2-4, RBI. Cole Eshleman R.
Paxton – Thomas Schwartz 1-2, 2 R, 2 BB. Charlie Hobbs 1-2, RBI, 2 R. Bryar Cosgrove 3-4, 2 RBIs, R. Alex Barney 1-1, 2 RBIs.
Game 2
Buckley Dutchmasters 1, Paxton Swedes 0
BUCK 000 000 01 — 1 8 2
PAX 000 000 00 — 0 0 1
W – Luke Shoven, 8 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 11 K, 4 BB. L – Eli Schmitt, 7.1 IP, 7 H, ER, 7 K, 2 BB.
Buckley (9-5) – Drake Schrodt 1-4. Hunter Brewer 2-3, R. Charles Cambridge 1-3. Josh Krumwiede 1-4, RBI. Andrew Zenner 1-4. Rylan Pheifer 1-3. Cole Eshleman 1-3.
Paxton (7-5) – Alex Barney BB. Charlie Hobbs BB. Ryan Bumpous BB. Griffin Walters BB.