By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (March 25, 2024) – When opportunity knocks, you better darn well answer the door. While Evergreen missed out on three early scoring chances, Swanton made the most of their one opportunity and added a late unearned run to post a 2-0 win over the Vikings in the season opener for both teams.
“This is really big, especially for us,” expressed Bulldog coach Josh Siewert. “Every year we have improved since I’ve been here and hey it’s one step more to get us going. We are excited to be 1-0.”
Evergreen loaded the bases with three straight walks against Bulldog starter Adam Lemon in the first with two down, but Lemon got Bryce Bolger on strikes to end the threat.
Hunter Vaculik reached on an error and was sacrificed to third in the second. Again, Lemon escaped when he got Chris Schrader and Colton Robertson on called thirds.
“I just told Adam here (after the game) that he had a good day except for the pitch count”, Siewert said. “He had too many balls but when he needed to, he got out of jams and that’s all that mattered in the long run.”
Layne Vance drilled a leadoff double to open the third but was thrown out at third trying to make it a triple on a play that killed another possible threat.
Meanwhile Brady Kanneman kept Swanton off the board, giving up just a pair of singles in the first three innings.
However, in the fourth, the Bulldogs got their first and only real scoring chance when Carsen Lemons rammed a one out double into the left field corner.
Kanneman struck out Lemon for the second out, but Evan Smigelski lofted a two-out, run scoring single to right-center to plate the only run the Bulldogs would need.
Swanton tacked on an insurance run in the seventh. Luke Marlow walked with one away and reliever Blade Walker had Marlow picked at first, but his attempt was wide allowed Marlow to wheel to third where another wild throw allowed the Bulldogs second run to score.
Lemons walked six but got out of trouble with eight strikeouts while allowing just one hit for the win.
Kanneman deserved better as he did not walk a hitter and struck out three while giving up a run and four hits.
SWANTON 000 100 1 – 2 4 2
EVERGREEN 000 000 X – 0 1 3
Records: Swanton 1-0, Evergreen 0-1
WINNING PITCHER: Lemon (5 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 8 strikeouts, 6 walks) Others: Marlow
LOSING PITCHER: B. Kanneman (4 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 earned, 3 strikeouts, 0 walks) Other: Walker
LEADING HITTERS: (Evergreen) Vance – double; (Swanton) Lemons – double; Smigelski – single, RBI