Ty Springer gave Sacred Heart-Griffin the lead, he and pitcher Chase Beckham preserved it, and Mikey Groesch added some flair in the Cyclones’ 4-0 win over Normal U-High in a Central State Eight Conference game at Comstock Field on Tuesday.
Beckham had a spectacular outing, going six scoreless innings with four hits, three walks, two were hit by pitches, and he struck out four. It was his best outing in his four starts.
SHG’s win also gave the Cyclones (16-5 overall, 5-3 in the CS8) added reassurance as the Class 3A postseason nears, knocking off one of the two teams unbeaten in league play (Chatham Glenwood is the other, sitting at 15-3 and 7-0 CS8). The Pioneers fell to 20-3 (7-1). U-High and SHG are both in the Mount Zion Sectional complex.
SHG won the Class 2A state baseball championship a year ago, but if the Cyclones — with 10 seniors with that state championship pedigree — want to go back-to-back, they’ll have to do it in the higher class against larger schools.
“We played really well today in all of the phases,” SHG coach Nick Naumovich said. “I thought we played good defense. I thought we pitched really well. I thought we ran the bags really well . . . but when you can play a clean baseball game, you certainly have an opportunity to get a win. And I thought we played well enough today to get a win.”
Beckham doesn’t try to overpower hitters, but instead says he’s comfortable enough knowing his defense has his back. In the first inning, with bases loaded and one out, Beckham got a strikeout and U-High’s Cole Brent tried to score on the dropped third strike, but Groesch quickly retrieved the ball, sprinted back and beat Brent to the plate for the tag out double play.
In the top of the third, U-High loaded the bases and, with two outs, Myles Mitchell drove a fly ball to deep center field. SHG’s Ty Springer even took a step in the wrong direction, spinned and sprinted over in time to make the catch.
“A couple of innings were a little rough, but I trust in my stuff, and I knew I had a great defense behind me,” Beckham said. “A couple of long fly balls were hit to Ty, but I knew he was going to be there to make the plays.”
Asked if he was nervous when he saw Springer need to recover his position, Beckham said: “A little bit, a little bit, but I trust him a lot. I know if a ball’s hit out there, he’s going to track it down somehow.”
Springer was standing next to Beckham waiting for his turn in the interview. He said: “Yeah, it made me a little nervous too. I knew it was hit good, but I took the wrong route. But, you know, went back and got it, so that’s all that matters.”
Springer, a senior, said he knows Comstock Field’s outfield well enough to know how much room he has.
“We’ve got a big field out here,” Springer said. “Most fields, that’s probably gone, but we’ve got a big field, and I played here four years, so I know what I’m doing and I trust my abilities.”
In the top of the fourth, Beckham picked off a runner at first. In the fifth, SHG third baseman Levi Daly, a sophomore, leapt for a bouncing ball well above his head and made the throw to second for a fielder’s choice.
By then, SHG had a 3-0 lead and Beckham was cruising.
Springer grounded into a run-scoring double play in the bottom of the third and Groesch led off the next inning with a solo home run over the left-center fence.
“Honestly, I hit one in Jacksonville that was pretty good, so I wasn’t sure if that one was gone,” Groesch said of his fourth homer. “I hit it pretty hard, got up into it, and it was gone.”
Dylan Clow followed that with an infield single, moved to second on a Rowan Mizeur sacrifice bunt and took third on a single by Daly to put runners at the corners. With U-High starter Isaac Schroeder keeping an eye on Daly at first, a pickoff attempt got past first baseman Bodey Klemmensen and Clow scored to give SHG a 3-0 lead. Drew Ward’s RBI single in the sixth scored Ethan Cour, who doubled off the wall in the previous at-bat.
As the SHG lead grew, Groesch saw Beckham’s ease on the mound grow. In 26 2/3 innings this season, Beckham is 3-1 with one save and a 1.05 ERA. He’s allowed four earned runs on 18 hits and has 19 strikeouts against 14 walks.
“You could tell he was fearless on the mound,” Groesch said of Beckham. “It starts with the preparation we have in practice. He’s been working hard for the entire offseason, regular season practices leading up to this, and we knew he was our guy, and that’s why he’s up on the mound today.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pitch it like Beckham | SHG junior has best outing in win over U-High
Reporting by Ryan Mahan, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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