BY AARON PATTERSON
Commercial-News
DANVILLE —
A perfect scenario for Danville Post 210 coach Adam Decker would have been two quick games on Friday on the opening day of the Lethal Lumber Classic wood bat tournament.
In addition to coaching the Speakers, Decker’s plans for the weekend include taking a quick flight to Minnesota for a friend’s wedding, before returning Sunday for the final day of tournament play.
It’s not a perfect world, and baseball’s not always a simple game.
An 11-inning afternoon affair against Macon County Post 105, complete with a one-hour, 14-minute weather delay, threatened Decker’s plans and the schedule of the tournament. And to make matters worse, the Speakers suffered their second loss of the season, falling 3-2 with a walkoff single by Macon County’s Nick Birch.
But Casey Fletcher (2-0) relieved all concerns when he made quick work of Lincoln Post 263 in the nightcap with a nearly flawless performance and an 8-0, five-inning win.
“I was loose from the first game from playing in the outfield and coming out here,” Fletcher said. “I threw with my coach before anyone else got here. I had to hustle over here. I felt fresh today. It was definitely good warming up in the first game and then coming out here and throwing.”
The Speakers (7-2) might have spent as much time traveling from Garfield Park to American Legion’s Freedom Field, and defeating Lincoln as they did waiting for the weather to clear so that play could resume in the opener.
Fletcher struck out six and allowed only two baserunners after walking the game’s leadoff hitter and watching Lincoln’s Ross Arneaud reach in the fifth on an infield error. In all, the game lasted only one hour, four minutes, and the tired, and likely mentally drained, Speakers stepped onto the field with a plan to make it an early night.
Cash Kiser (two hits, two stolen bases) led off the bottom of the first with a single to left, and Post 210 scored three runs in the inning on three hit batsmen and a walk. They added another in the second before crossing the plate four times in the third on two hits and three walks. Seven of the nine in Danville’s lineup scored.
“That’s a relief,” Decker said of getting the win. “And it all starts with Casey on the mound. Strike one, strike two. Very nice job on the mound. He’s a guy that I haven’t seen all spring, so I’m still feeling my way with what guys can do. He’s proven in the last two outings that he deserves to face good teams, and we’re going to give him those good teams coming up directly.”
Fletcher was coming off a one-hit performance on Monday against Toledo, and his outing against Lincoln was the third quality performance of the day for the Speakers, who watched Aaron Lewellyn and Blake Janesky combine to throw 10.2 innings against Macon County (3-3), walking only three and giving up three runs.
But as good as the duo was, Post 210 struggled to scrape across two runs as Macon County pitcher Evan West was perfect through five innings before allowing two baserunners on a walk and an error in the sixth.
Fletcher drew an eight-pitch walk, and scored when Zane Dillon reached on an error by the Post 105 shortstop. The Speakers pushed another run across in the seventh on Tyler McKenzie’s single, following a double off the left field fence by Chuckie Robinson that nearly left the park.
Lewellyn had only given up two hits through six innings, but was tagged for three consecutive in the bottom of the sixth that helped Macon County tie the game, sending it to extras.
“It was really tough,” Lewellyn said. “(West) threw real well, but in the end, I just ran out of gas. I couldn’t find anything left in my arm. But I agree with coach Deck. He said he might have left me in a little too long, but I’m stubborn, so I was going to go back out there and see if I can get the job done.
“When you battle that long, you want to come out on top. Where the chips fell, it just happened that they got the last hit and scored that last run.”
Macon County won both of its games on Friday by one run each, and played a total of 23 innings in back-to-back contests after defeating Paris 1-0 in 12 innings just prior to its meeting with Danville.
Kiser finished the day with three hits, while Dillon drove in two runs, and McKenzie, Michael Grant, Janesky and Ryne Watson each had one RBI.
While Decker will be traveling, he will no doubt have his mind on baseball and how the Speakers respond to the tournament’s tiring opening day. But fortunately for Post 210, it will play only one game today at 2 p.m. against Paris at Freedom Field.
A win could place Danville in Sunday’s championship round scheduled to be played at Danville Stadium.
“I think it was big, because if we came out here this game and we suffer another loss, that’s heartbreaking,” Fletcher said following the win over Lincoln. “It’s our tournament and we’re expected to be in the championship round. Losing two today would be bad.”
