With the way Will Coady was pitching, Rochester needed some breaks.
But when the Rockets caught a little bit of good fortune, Sacred Heart-Griffin got out of it every time.
Coady allowed one hit and struck out 11 as the Cyclones beat Rochester 8-1 in a nonconference game between Central State Eight Conference members at SHG’s Comstock Field on Monday, April 20.
“That’s his third good start this year. He had a real good start last week against (Jacksonville Routt) and carried on again today,” SHG coach Nick Naumovich said. “(Coady was) just throwing strikes, keeping the ball in the zone, good pace. All of that adds up to good defense and playing a clean game; so very proud of Will today.”
Rochester (5-5) beat SHG 3-2 when the teams met in Rochester for the CS8 contest on April 8. Rockets’ coach Matt Carlson said his team is young with lots of room for improvement as they gain more experience.
“Right now, it’s about our guys figuring out where we’re at on the mound, had a couple sophomores (Finn Bruce and Aiden Plessa) out there figuring things out a little bit,” Carlson said. “I thought they both did a really nice job of handling the situations they were in. I was happy with a lot of the things that we did today.”
SHG (13-5) remains a formidable team after winning the Class 2A state baseball championship last June and graduated just two players — Thomas Lauterbach, whose single in the bottom of the seventh inning delivered the Cyclones a 5-4 win over Teutopolis in the 2A title game in Champaign, and The State Journal-Register’s Large School Baseball Player of the Year, Andy Antonacci, who hit a home run against the Wooden Shoes in the first inning of the championship game.
One of the reasons SHG will be considered a contender for the 2026 Class 3A title is Coady, who improved to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.45 and doubled his season strikeout total to 22. The 6-foot-3 senior lefty had two on in the top of the first after an error and a walk before getting sophomore Adam Anderson to fly out. When Coady issued a leadoff walk to freshman Brenton Slusser, right fielder Drew Ward made back-to-back outs before Coady got Gibson Warren, a Rochester junior, to strike out looking.
Coady struck out two hitters in the top of the third and, with a 4-0 lead afforded to him, fanned the side in the fourth. Rochester’s Reece Gade reached on an error with one out in the fifth before Warren and junior leadoff hitter Frank Stefano walked to load the bases. But Coady got out of the jam by fanning junior Sean Plessa for the second out. Coady said that was his biggest strikeout of the day.
“That kind of gave me the confidence to go back out there and pitch a few more innings,” Coady said.
The next batter, senior catcher Sam Ferris, hit a deep fly ball into foul territory, but Ward sprinted hard and recorded the putout to end the Rockets’ threat.
“It all comes down to Will,” Ward said, trying to suppress laughter while his teammates tried to distract him and Coady during postgame interviews.
“We made a lot of errors behind him and in the field today and he kind of picked us up with all the strikeouts and stuff, so you know, at least I could do to go make a catch for him.”
Rochester senior Ajay Runkel got the first hit off Coady in the top of the sixth, but Coady fanned the next two hitters before Ethan Cour secured the third out, and final pitch from Coady, to end the inning.
Ward is another reason the Cyclones have an eye toward June and will try to win titles in back-to-back seasons but in different classes. Ward, a senior, is hitting .411 (23-for-56) with 10 doubles, a home run and 15 RBIs. Ward is tied with teammate Austin Rutter for second on the team in average, behind Ty Springer. Springer is a senior, while Rutter is a junior.
SHG scored its first run without getting a hit. Ward led off the bottom of the third with a walk against Rochester sophomore starter Finn Bruce, stole second and took third as the throw from Ferris went into center field. Ward scored on a wild pitch to give the Cyclones a 1-0 lead.
“Yeah, that’s kind of what we preach here: aggressive base running,” Ward said. ”(Naumovich) has faith in us, just gives us green light and kind of lets us run around the bases.”
Rutter then walked, Springer tripled to score Rutter, senior Carson Butler’s double scored Springer, Mikey Groesch, a junior, was hit by a pitch and, senior Seth Monk’s sacrifice bunt attempt was misplayed by Slusser and Butler scored from second. SHG led 4-0.
Rochester’s Runkel went the distance when the teams met on April 8 and Rochester beat SHG’s Will Pennell, despite the senior striking out 12. Carlson was not surprised by Coady’s performance.
“Will’s been good every time we’ve seen him the last couple years,” Carlson said. “He’s really put it to us when we’ve seen him. He’s done a nice job; I thought he was good.”
Mikey Groesch cleared the bases with a two-run inside-the-park home run in the sixth. He and Springer each finished with two RBIs. Runkel and Warren had the only two hits for the Rockets. Warren singled against SHG relief pitcher Jack Johannes.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: SHG’s Coady baffles Rochester hitters, gets 11 Ks in six scoreless innings
Reporting by Ryan Mahan, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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