Turning point: Walkoff win over North Cedar sets the tone for 2-0 week

     If this turns out to be the kind of successful season the Monticello High School baseball team is hoping for, it will be easy to pinpoint the moment things turned the Panthers’ way.

     Jeff Carlson stepped in with bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 3-3 game against North Cedar, and ripped a line drive single up the middle, driving in Justin Recker with the winning run.

     “There couldn’t have been a better kid for that to happen to, being our lone senior,” Monticello coach Kolby Harms said.

     It gave the Panthers their first win of the season, and they followed it the next afternoon with an 8-3 triumph over Bellevue. Within the space of about 18 hours, Monticello (2-3) had gone from a struggling team to a surging one.

     “It felt really good,” Carlson said after the game. “I think it’s a lot of pressure lifted off of us. We have a good team and we have all the pieces to win, but it just hadn’t been going our way.”

     The North Cedar game was June 25, after Monticello’s scheduled June 22 game at West Branch was cancelled due to rain. The Panthers trailed North Cedar 3-1 in the fifth inning, but scored two runs to tie it. Tate Petersen’s grounder to first with runners on second and third and two out got by the Knights’ first baseman, allowing Brayden Cleeton and Connor Lambert to score, making it 3-3.

     In the bottom of the eighth, Recker hit a one-out single, and Preston Ries walked. The runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. After a fly out, Cleeton was intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing Carlson to the plate.

     “I was confident,” he said. “I had been hitting the ball well all night. I was a little nervous. We’ve been in a position to win in a few games before, but never really like that.”

     Caleb Sauser and Carlson both went 2-for-4 at the plate; one of Sauser’s hits was a double. Dylan Roher pitched the first five innings, allowing just one hit and striking out 10. Carlson worked the sixth and seventh innings, and Sauser came in to strike out the side in the eighth, eventually ending up with the win.

     “Dylan came out and threw strikes, we did what we needed to defensively, put balls in play, and got the win,” Carlson said.

     The Panthers had to make a quick turnaround on Friday when the scheduled 7 p.m. game was pushed up to 1 p.m. because of a predicted storm.

     The early start didn’t faze Monticello, however, which jumped to a 6-0 lead through the first three innings.

     “We played so much more relaxed on Friday,” Harms said. “It really fits our style of play if we can get up early.”

     Tyler Luensman drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. In the second, Sauser hit a two-run double.

     Recker tripled and then Ries hit an RBI single in the third, and Cleeton followed with a two-run homer to open up the six-run lead.

     Bellevue tried to inch back into the game with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the sixth, aided by two walks, an error and a passed ball, to gain an 8-2 margin.

     Monticello had 10 hits. Roher batted 2-for-3 with a double, Sauser was 2-for-4 with a double, and Ries went 2-for-4 as well.

     Sauser was the starting pitcher and fired three shutout innings. Luensman pitched the next three and picked up the win, and Ries worked the seventh inning.

June 25

Monticello 4, North Cedar 3

(eight innings)

MONTICELLO                            AB     R     H     BI

Sauser ss                                      4      1      2      0

Petersen 2b                                   3      0      0      2

Luensman cf                                  4      0      0      0

Recker 3b                                       4      1      1      0

Ries lf                                             3      0      0      0

Gillmore c                                       3      0      0      0

Cleeton dh                                      2      1      1      0

Roher p                                           0      0      0      0

Carlson 1b                                       4      0      2      1

Lambert rf                                        3      1      1      0

Totals                                             30     4      7      3

North Cedar                   010  200  00 –   3      2      2

Monticello                      100  020  01 –   4      7      3

(Two out when winning run scored.)

LOB – Monticello 8, North Cedar 5.

2B – Sauser.

SB – Luensman, Sauser, Recker

Monticello                               IP     H     R     ER  BB  SO

Roher                                        5      1      3      2      1   10

Carlson                                     2      1      0      0      1      0

Sauser (W, 1-0)                        1      0      0      0      0      3

Total                                         8      2      3      2      2    13

June 26

Monticello 8, Bellevue 3

MONTICELLO                            AB     R     H     BI

Sauser p                                        4      1      2      2

Petersen ss                                    3      1      1      0

Luensman cf                                  3      1      0      1

Recker 3b                                      3      1      1      0

Ries lf                                             4      1      2      1

Carlson 1b                                      4      0      0      0

Cleeton dh                                      4      2      1      2

Gillmore c                                       0      0      0      0

Roher rf                                          3      1      2      0

Lambert 4b                                     3      0      1      0

Totals                                            31     8     10     6

Bellevue                       000  011  1   –    3      9      4

Monticello                     123  002  x   –    8    10      2

LOB – Bellevue 12, Monticello 8.

HR – Cleeton.

3B – Recker.

2B – Roher, Sauser.

SB – Petersen 2, Recker 2, Roher, Sauser,

Ries.

Monticello                     IP     H     R    ER   BB   SO

Sauser                            3      1      0      0      2      3

Luensman (W, 1-0)         3      6      2      2      0      1

Ries                                1      2      1      0      1      1

Total                               7      9      3      2      3      5