By Staff
BENNINGTON – The Inman baseball team went on the road Friday and not only beat the incoming weather, but they also beat Bennington twice in taking both ends of a doubleheader, 5-2 and 18-3.
With the two wins, the Teutons remain unbeaten at 8-0 for the 2023 season. Inman will battle a pair of area rivals next week as they play host to Canton/Galva on Tuesday before hosting Little River on Friday.
“It was sure nice to score runs in chunks,” explained Teuton head coach Matt Mikulecky. “We are still breaking in a bunch of new kids and trying to find the right combination of offense and defense. It is good to see guys get more confidence because you can’t play this game timid.”
In the opening game of the day, Inman scored once in the first and twice in the second to get an early lead of 3-0 and then added one run in the fourth and one in the sixth while holding Bennington to just a pair of runs to get the final three-run, 5-2 win.
Brant Mikulecky pounded out a pair of doubles and knocked across three runs to give himself support for his pitching performance. Mikulecky threw six innings, tossing 70 pitches and giving up five hits, one earned run, walking just one and striking out eight. Jesse Ballard came on in relief for the final inning.
Caleb Bigler and Jesse Ballard also chipped in with a pair of hits in the game, including another double by Ballard.
Commenting on the opening game, coach Mikulecky noted, “Brant (Mikulecky) gave us a solid start on the mound. Not sure that he had his best stuff, but awfully proud of how he has been pounding the zone this season. Jesse (Ballard) came on in the seventh and put it away for us. He has done a nice job of coming in and closing games. The bats started to come to life, which was something we have been really working on. Brant was a sparkplug for our offense today and I felt like hitting got contagious in the first game as we were getting some hard contact.”
The offense pounded Bennington pitching for 14 hits in the nightcap as the Teutons scored three in the first, four in the second, and three in the third, one in the fourth and their final six in the fifth. Bennington did ding Inman for three in the first but after that, it was zeros across the board as Inman gained the final 15-run, 18-3 win.
Brant Mikulecky had another big game, going 4-for-4 with a triple, a pair of stolen bases, three runs batted in and scoring four times. Jesse Ballard had three hits with Ballard and Brody Froese each hitting doubles. The Teutons ran wild on the bases as they racked up 14 stolen bases in the game.
Caleb Bigler threw the first three innings, giving up just three hits, three earned runs, walking two and striking out five on 54 pitches. Grant Wiens came in and finished out the final two innings for the Teutons.
Coach Mikulecky concluded his post-game reflections by saying, “Caleb (Bigler) did not have his command in that first inning but came back strong to finish his three innings. Grant (Wiens) did a heck of a job coming in and pitching with a lead and had his stuff working. The bats stayed hot in game two and we finally started to string hits together which is something we haven’t done.”
INMAN TEUTON BASEBALL at Benington
GAME 1 >
Scoring: TEUTONS > 1-2-0-1-0-1-0 = 5-10-1; Bennington > 0-0-0-1-0-0-1 = 2-5-1.
TEUTONS HITTING (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Brant Mikulecky > 4-1-3-3-0; Samuel Shober > 4-0-1-0-0; Jesse Ballard > 4-0-2-1-0; Zaden Johnson > 4-0-1-0-0; Rhett Gilkey > 3-0-0-0-0; Landen Shealy > 2-2-1-0-1; Talon Welch > 3-1-0-0-0; Caleb Bigler > 3-1-2-1-0; Brody Froese > 3-0-0-0-0. Team Totals > 30-5-10-5-1. 2B (3) > B. Mikulecky – 2; J. Ballard – 1. SB (4) > C. Bigler – 2; B. Mikulecky, Z. Johnson – 1.
TEUTONS PITCHING (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): Brant Mikulecky (W) > 6.0-70-5-1-1-1-8; Jesse Ballard > 1.0-21-0-1-1-1-3. Team Totals > 7.0-91-5-2-2-3-11.
GAME 2 >
Scoring: TEUTONS > 3-4-3-1-6-x-x = 18-14-1; Bennington > 3-0-0-0-0-x-x = 3-3-3.
TEUTONS HITTING (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Brant Mikulecky > 4-4-4-3-0; Samuel Shober > 3-2-1-2-1; Jesse Ballard > 3-0-3-3-1; Dylan Larson > 0-1-0-0-0; Zaden Johnson > 5-2-2-1-0; Rhett Gilkey > 4-0-1-1-0; Landen Shealy > 3-0-0-0-0; Caden Bachman > 0-1-0-0-0; Talon Welch > 4-1-1-2-0; Caleb Bigler > 3-2-1-0-0; Brody Froese > 2-3-1-1-1; Grant Wiens > 0-0-0-0-0. Team Totals > 31-18-14-13-3. 2B (2) > J. Ballard, B. Froese – 1. 3B (1) > B. Mikulecky – 1. SB (14) > C. Bigler, Z. Johnson – 3; Jamie Milleson, B. Mikulecky – 2; S. Shober, C. Bachman, T. Welch, B. Froese – 1.
TEUTONS PITCHING (ip-ph-r-er-bb-so): Caleb Bigler (W) > 3.0-54-3-3-3-2-5; Grant Wiens > 2.0-29-0-0-0-1-3. Team Totals > 5.0-83-3-3-3-3-8.
(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)