Gallery by Heather Belcher
Thursday on a windy and cold night in Coal City, it was a showdown between Cole’s.
Cole Brown from Nicholas County and Cole Cunningham from Independence battled toe-to-toe, but neither ace surrendered a run over their seven innings of work.
With both hurlers maxed out on pitches, the game was decided in the eighth inning.
The man in the middle of the decisive inning for the Grizzlies was Ira Mylott.
Batting with bases loaded in the top of the inning Mylott lifted a fly ball to center-field bringing home the only run of the evening.
The junior standout then weathered a scoring threat from the Patriots in the bottom of the inning to preserve the 1-0 win.
“Hats off to Cunningham. He kept us off balance all night and did a fantastic job. Our Cole was himself as usual,” Nicholas County head coach D.J. Martin said. “Then Mylott comes in and shuts the door in that situation. I told them the team we were last year, as young as we were, we would have found a way to lose that game. They never flinched.”
Over his seven innings of work Brown surrendered only three hits, but two of them came in the bottom of the first frame with just one out.
As was the case all night, any glimmer of offensive hope was quickly shot down in flames by the two hurlers. Brown stopped the early threat in its tracks with back-to-back strikeouts.
Nicholas did not record a hit until the fourth when Braden Brown doubled to open the inning. Cunningham was equal to his mound-mate by fanning the next two batters before coaxing a ground ball to end that uprising.
Micah Cuthbert singled for Indy in the fifth inning. The freshman second baseman was sacrificed to second, but that opportunity was also squashed on a pair of strikeouts by Brown.
“That was the speech in our huddle a lot tonight. We needed to get something going before two outs,” Martin said. “It’s hard to get a runner in with two outs and I am sure it was the same on the other side.”
Cunningham allowed just two hits on his night and both pitchers struck out 13 batters before being lifted.
A walk to Grayson Kesterson opened the eighth inning for Nicholas County who then made the high percentage play to move Kesterson into scoring position.
However, the visitors got more than they bargained for when two straight sacrifice bunt attempts found the perfect spot going for infield singles to load the bases.
With the sacks juiced, Mylott broke the ice with his fly ball for a 1-0 lead.
“They were able to get some bunts down. I think we got one out of two down. They had good placement on both bunts and one just seemed to die (on the infield),” Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert said. “Even at that, with the bases loaded and no outs, we held it to one run. That is a positive as well.”
After escaping any further damage, Indy made a push to tie the score in the bottom of the inning.
A double by Blake Stratton along with a walk and a hit batsman loaded the bases with two outs.
This time it was Mylott reaching back for the big strikeout to end the game.
“I told my coaches that in a year’s time, we have gone from coaching kids to young men. Just because of the battles they have been in,” Martin said. “They are a tough group and a great group. They just battled this one out.”
Although it is still very early in the season, getting a sectional win on the road was a huge positive for the Grizzlies.
“We knew coming in we would have a target on our back this year, but coach Cuthbert and his players will always battle,” Martin said. “They will always play well and it is a hard place to come into and get a win. Just proud of our guys for fighting to the end and finding a way to pull this one out.”
With a young team and some new pieces in his line-up, Cuthbert saw plenty of positives in the tough loss.
“Both teams pitched really well today,” Cuthbert said. “Both Cole’s were really good today. That is the best our Cole has looked in awhile. Then they were able to scratch a run in. We had some opportunities. In this game, all you can ask for is opportunities. They were able to execute and we didn’t.”
“I thought overall it was a really clean game,” the Indy coach went on to say. “We had hoped to put the ball in play a little more, but for the first time seeing a really, really good pitcher, I thought we battled. Even though the strikeouts were still a little high, this game is good for the future. It is not where we start now, it is where we are when we get into May.”
