GIBSON CITY – With a 6-3 victory over Heyworth on Monday, the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley varsity baseball team remains in the thick of the Heart of Illinois Conference title race.
The win improved GCMS’s conference mark to 5-1, as well as its overall record to 7-5. Tremont and Eureka are both undefeated in the HOIC.
“We’ll take the win. Hopefully, we can keep doing the things we need to do,” GCMS head coach Dustin White said. “With the rainouts and those types of things, there’s a lot of conference games in the back end. It’s going to be tough because at some point, you’re going to run out of pitching, so your offense is really going to have to really come to play here in the next couple of weeks. Those guys who typically don’t get a conference start are going to get one, and they’re going to have to show up so we get a chance to hopefully stay with the top couple of teams in the conference.”
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Hunter Brewer was hit by a pitch and Kellan Fanson singled to left field before Brewer and Fanson scored on an error on a ground ball hit by Zach Price, giving GCMS a 2-0 lead.
The Falcons extended their lead to 4-0 in the second inning.
Kellen DeSchepper hit a two-out triple to center field before scoring on a base hit to center field by Ty Cribbett. David Hull drew a walk before Cribbett scored on a wild pitch.
“I thought we swung it really well early,” White said. “Those two-out base hits were very helpful.”
Heyworth scored two runs in the top of the third inning as Maddox Klawitter hit a single and Dylan Esposito doubled to right field as Tyler Wills sent Klawitter home with a base hit to left field. Esposito scored on a passed ball.
Landon Nettleton led off the top of the fourth inning with a bunt single before Jacob Shoemaker singled on another bunt with one out. Klawatter singled to right field to send Nettleton home to cut Heyworth’s deficit to 4-3.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, GCMS extended its lead to 6-3.
Mason Kutemeier and Altin Nettleton each drew a walk before moving into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by DeSchepper. Kutemeier scored on a Cribbett groundout before Hull singled to center field to send Nettleton across home plate.
From there, both teams would be held scoreless as Heyworth ended the game outhitting GCMS 9-6.
“I think we’ve got to get better with situational hitting,” White said. “In the last couple of games, we’ve gotten out on the board early, and then we’ve kind of gone in cruise control mode. Offensively, we’ve got to get a little bit more focus and tack on some runs because all of those little things become big things. We kept the team around a little bit longer than we maybe should have. It’s a conference game. You know they’re going to fight, and they did a nice job.”
Altin Nettleton pitched five innings as GCMS’s starter, allowing three earned runs on eight hits and five walks with three strikeouts. In the top of the fifth inning, Cooper Johnson and Logan Mills each drew a one-out walk, but Landon Nettleton lined into a double play as Brayden Elliott caught the line drive before throwing to GCMS second-baseman Ty Cribbett to force Johnson out at second base.
Nettleton threw 93 pitches, including 53 for strikes.
“Nettleton did a really nice job of keeping the ball down and keeping them off balance,” White said. “Nettleton threw the ball well. His pitch count got up. He got a few three-ball counts we don’t want to see, but he bailed himself out and came back. As a sophomore, he was ready to go in a conference game. We liked his energy and his effort.
“Sometimes, you’re a little bit nervous to let a guy make some contact. It wasn’t a great hitting day. It was cold. The wind wasn’t really blowing out, and the ground was wet, so it’s going to eat some stuff up. On a day like that, you’ve got to be a little bit more aggressive as a pitcher and pound the strike zone. He did that at times. Other times, he kind of got himself caught, but overall, I thought he did a really nice job.”
Brayden Elliott picked up the save for the Falcons, allowing no runs on one hit and one walk with three strikeouts through two innings.
Brady Wicklander drew a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth inning before advancing to second base on a Shoemaker sacrifice bunt, but Klawitter flied out to GCMS centerfielder Isaiah Johnson for the second out before Elliott struck Esposito out looking for the third out.
In the seventh inning, Tyler Wills hit a leadoff walk before Gabe Frantz popped out to Cribbett and Elliott struck Johnson and Mills out swinging to end the game.
“I thought our pitching staff did a nice job,” White said. “Brayden Elliott threw the ball the way he was capable of.”
The Falcons will play nonconference games at St. Joseph-Ogden and Rantoul on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
“It’s nice to get a win before going over there,” White said. “Hopefully, we can get a little streak going here.”
On Friday, GCMS will resume HOIC play at Tri-Valley. The Falcons will also face conference foe Deer Creek-Mackinaw on the road on Monday before hosting a nonconference game against Milford.
GCMS 6, Heyworth 3
HEY 002 100 0 — 3 9 2
GCMS 220 200 x — 6 6 0
W – Altin Nettleton, 5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 K, 5 BB. L – Tyler Wills, IP, H, 2 R, 0 ER, K, 0 BB. S – Brayden Elliott, 2 IP, H, 0 R, 3 K, BB.
Heyworth – Maddox Klawitter 2-3, RBI, R. Dylan Esposito 1-4, 2B, R. Tyler Wills 2-3, RBI. Landon Nettleton 2-3, R. Tyler Bartels 1-1. Jacob Shoemaker 1-2.
GCMS (7-5, 5-1) – Ty Cribbett 1-3, 2 RBIs, R. David Hull 1-3, RBI. Hunter Brewer 1-2, R. Kellan Fanson 1-3, R. Mason Kutemeier 1-2, R. Altin Nettleton R. Kellen DeSchepper 1-2, 3B, R.
