GCMS baseball loses 11-1 to Monticello in regional title game


GCMS’s Ty Cribbett hits a solo home run to lead off the first inning of Saturday’s IHSA Class 2A regional championship game against Monticello.

GCMS’s Ty Cribbett hits a solo home run to lead off the first inning of Saturday’s IHSA Class 2A regional championship game against Monticello.

TOLONO – The clock eventually struck midnight on the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley baseball team’s Cinderella story.

The Falcons entered IHSA Class 2A Tolono Unity Regional as the eighth seed. After wins over seventh-seeded Oakwood and second-seeded Unity, GCMS faced third-seeded Monticello in Saturday’s regional championship game.

“We were excited to be here,” GCMS head coach Dustin White said. “We weren’t supposed to be here, so for us to make it to the regional championship was huge for us and our program.”

The Falcons lost 11-1 in five innings to the Sages.

 “It’s a tough way to go out, but you tip your cap to Monticello,” White said. “They’re a really good baseball team.”

In the game’s first at-bat, Ty Cribbett homered to center field to give GCMS a 1-0 lead.

“Cribbett put a really good swing on the ball,” White said. “He had a great round of batting practice yesterday at practice, and I knew he was going to come out and have a really good day today. It was nice to see him get that homer early on and do some damage. It brought our energy level up, and we needed that big time.”

From there, Monticello starting pitcher Jack Buckalew struck out the next three batters. He would finish his outing with nine strikeouts and one walk while allowing one earned run on three hits.

“He did a fabulous job. He was dialed In,” White said. “His off-speed pitch was as good as we’ve seen all year. I was really impressed with the way he threw and commanded the zone. He didn’t give us any freebies. He forced the ball in play, and when we hit it, their kids made some good plays defensively, and that’s how it goes.”

Monticello (21-8) went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning as Isaiah Johnson made a leaping catch in center field by Joey Sprinkle for the third out.

In the second inning, Jacob Trusner drew a leadoff walk and Buckalew reached base on an error to put runners on first and second base, but GCMS catcher Zach Price threw to Hunter Brewer to pick Trusner out at second base for the first out.

After Thomas Swartz drew a walk, Colton Vance grounded into a fielder’s choice as third baseman Brayden Elliott fielded the ground ball before stepping on the third-base bag before Altin Nettleton struck out Tylor Bundy.

Luke Teschke drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third inning and Biniam Lienhart singled to left field before Triston Foran tripled to center field to send Teschke and Lienhart home to give Monticello a 2-1 lead. Sprinkle singled to left field to send Foran across home plate.

After right-fielder Kellan Fanson caught a couple of fly balls, Swartz singled to right field before Fanson drew to Elliott at third base to force Sprinkle out for the third out.

“These guys could have come today and not showed up, and we played really good baseball,” White said. “We just had one inning where we couldn’t get an out and things went against us, but I’m really happy with the effort our kids made today and throughout the year.”

The Sages then scored seven runs in the fourth inning, including run-scoring doubles by Sprinkle, Trusner and Buckalew and RBI singles by Lienhart and Vance.

Foran reached base on an error with one out in the fifth inning before scoring on an infield single by Sprinkle to end the game via the 10-run rule.

On the mound, Altin Nettleton allowed six earned runs on five hits and five walks with two strikeouts through three innings pitched. Elliott allowed five runs – four earned – on six hits and no walks with one strikeout through 1 1/3 innings.

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The Falcons had two seniors in the starting lineup, including Southwestern Illinois College-bound Hunter Brewer.

“Hunter Brewer is going to go down as one of the best players in the last 20 years I’ve been here. He’s going to be desperately missed for his leadership,” White said. “He swings the bat really well. He’ll be a kid that battles for the GCMS Hall of Fame whenever that come due for him. I’m super proud of his effort over the last four years.”

Kellen DeSchepper earned his way into the starting lineup after converting from competing in track and field in previous years.

“He worked and got himself a starting spot, and he really took advantage of that,” White said. “I can’t be happier with him and prouder of him. He’s an excellent kid, and to come out and work the way he did to earn a spot and become a really valuable player on a really good baseball team says a lot about him and his character. He’s just a great kid, and I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.”

Seven of the starters are returning after finishing the 2022 season with a record of 17-9.

“There’s a lot of really talented baseball players who are coming back next year that we’re excited about. Today’s loss was tough, but I can’t be prouder of the effort that they made all year,” White said. “The weather was terrible early. They could have just shut it down and said they’re tired of being in the gym all the time, and they didn’t. They came every day. They worked. They got a lot better as the season went on. They started to have some fun and believe they can win.”

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During the game, GCMS players wore decals with the No. 2 in honor of Colin Bane, who died last Wednesday in a vehicular accident.

“That’s a situation that, unfortunately, our kids had to deal with. It was a tough last three days for them. It’s going to be a tough next three days, five days, month or whatever the case may be for a lot of these kids. These kids went through things other teams in other towns haven’t had to deal with, and they’ve battled, came to practice, worked and did everything we asked of them, and they did it at a super high level,” White said.

“We lost a baseball game today, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s not a really big deal. For these kids to come out and play with the heavy heart they did and play with the effort and energy they did says a lot about the character of our kids and their parents, too. Hopefully, over the next multiple days, weeks and months, they’re going to understand what they did and how important it was to just be together as a team, to play together and support each other through things like that and support other kids in the community as well.”

Monticello 11, GCMS 1

GCMS   100   00   —  1   3   2

MON     003   71   — 11 11  0

W – Jack Buckalew, 5 IP, 3 H, ER, 9 K, BB. L – Altin Nettleton, 3 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 2 K, 5 BB.

GCMS (17-9) – Ty Cribbett 1-2, HR, RBI, R. Mason Kutemeier 1-2. David Hull 1-2.

Monticello (21-8) – Biniam Lienhart 2-4, 2 RBIs, 2 R. Triston Foran 1-4, 3B, 2 RBIs, 2 R. Joey Sprinkle 3-4, 2B, 3 RBIs, R. Jacob Trusner 1-2, 2B, 2 RBIs, R. Jack Buckalew 1-3, 2B, RBI. Thomas Swartz 1-2. Colton Vance 2-3, RBI, R. Tylor Bundy R. Luke Teschke 2 R, 2 BB. Wade Carroll R.