BY JOHN DUBOIS
Commercial-News
DANVILLE —
Led by the pitching of Joe Pratt and sparked by an opportunistic offense, the Danville Post 210 Speakers bounced back in a big way from a disappointing 4-2 first game loss to defeat Mattoon Post 88 10-0 in six innings in Game 2 of a doubleheader Wednesday at Garfield Park.
The doubleheader was the Speakers’ first action since winning the Lethal Lumber classic on Sunday.
“Following two days off I would have thought we would have showed up in Game 1 but we just went through the motions,” said Speakers coach Adam Decker. “We had more urgency and swung at better pitches in Game 2.”
Pratt went the distance for the win, striking out five while allowing five hits.
“Pratt did a really nice job tonight,” Decker said. “Vince Anello is one of the better hitters your going to see anywhere and though he had a couple of hits, Joe was able to contain him. He kept their hitters off balance and didn’t let the meat of their order beat us.”
The Speakers took seven walks and were aided by three Mattoon errors. Casey Fletcher reached base four times, Blake Janesky and Zane Dillon three times each, and Zach Miller — who came up from the junior team — had three RBI’s.
Fletcher walked, stole second, and scored on an error to get the Speakers on the board in the bottom of the second. RBI’s from Fletcher and Miller would make the score 3-0 after three innings. Capped by a two-RBI double from Cody Burton, the Speakers would break the game open with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cash Kiser would have a two RBI bases loaded single to drive in the game winning runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“Zane was playing with a bad back and played a good game,” said Decker. “Zach Miller did a nice job filling in for Chuckie Robinson and was solid behind the plate. Ultimately everything went our way in Game 2. We took advantage of the opportunities presented to us and our defense played really well. We have put a lot of work into the field here at Garfield Park and it was so nice to see such good hops on balls. We have never had that here before.”
The Speakers got a complete-game effort from Fletcher in Game 1, but only managed three hits. Mattoon scored two runs in the top of the first and second innings to take a quick 4-0 lead, but Fletcher was able to limit the damage stranding three runners in scoring position.
Singles by Tyler McKenzie, Pratt and Janesky got the Speakers on the board in the bottom of the second, and an RBI fielders choice from Fletcher would make the score 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth.
The Speakers would chase Mattoon starter Dalton McFarland in the seventh, but came up short when a lined shot off the bat of McKenzie was caught to end the game.
“Casey got the ball up early, but recovered,” said Decker. “He threw better as the game went along, but we weren’t able to recover offensively.”
The Speakers move to 11-3 on the season and return to action today with a make-up road game in Arthur against Moultrie-Douglas County.
