Lincoln Land beats Spoon River 8-5

The first 7 innings of the Loggers-Snappers game on April 1 were back-and-forth. But an argued call ended with Spoon Rivers coach John Dyke being ejected from the game.

It turned the momentum in the Loggers favor, said Loggers pitcher Graham Bender.

The game started with the Loggers gaining an early lead. Adam Deal started with a 1-2-3 inning against Spoon River, and Lincoln Land was able to immediately capitalize to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double by Andy Lopez.

Spoon River threatened to score in the second inning but grounded out to Adam Deal with runners on the corners to end the top of the second. Lincoln Land again scored in the second inning on a single by Jayden Reed.

But the game was back-and-forth with Spoon River scoring 3 runs and take the lead in the third inning. All of the runs came in on a 3 RBI double by Snappers Trey Kazubowski.

The lead wasn’t held for long by Spoon River as the Loggers came through with 2 runs in the bottom half of the third. Chase Kuntzman and Jonathon Walder both got an RBI in the third. Deal was able to quickly put the third inning behind the Loggers as he made quick work of the Snappers.

Only one person reached base in the fourth, and the scoring stopped until the sixth inning when Alex Kerner hit a long home-run to right center to tie it up.

The Snappers would bring in a 5th run on Robert Chayka’s RBI single. Both starting pitchers had almost identical stat lines went six innings allowing 5 runs and 8 hits each.

Lincoln Land was able to get a base-runner on first in the seventh when there was a pick-off attempt that was very close at first. For the second time that game, Dyke came out to argue a call and this time he went to far getting ejected from the game.

Lincoln Land went on to hit in 2 runs in the seventh and eighth innings and held Spoon River scoreless through the last three innings. Lincoln Land won the game 8-5.

TJ Painter got the win for the Loggers coming out of the bullpen and pitching three scoreless innings.

Loggers Coach Ron Riggle said of the consistent scoring, “All hits and runs count the same. When you get them early it allows the team to relax and play.”

The Loggers went on to beat Spoon River 8-7 in the second game on Monday, and then 9-2, and 20-1 on Tuesday’s doubleheader.

Ryan Scott can be reached at [email protected].