The Macomb High baseball squad took to the road for a pair of contests, dropping both.
On Thursday, the Bombers headed to Carthage for a Prairieland Conference contest against Illini West.
Charger pitcher Ethan Carlisle tossed a three-hitter as Illini West recorded an 8-1 victory.
Illini West improved to 16-4 overall, 4-0 in Prairieland play, while the Bombers slipped to 1-4 in league play.
The Bombers scored in the top of the first.
Drew Watson led off by drawing a four-pitch walk. Nick Elbe singled to center with Watson reaching third base.
Watson scored on a wild pitch with Jake Ogle at the plate.
The Chargers drew even in the bottom of the inning against Elbe, who started the game on the mound for the Bombers.
Two walks and a single loaded the bases before Aiden Hocker’s sacrifice fly to center scored Wesley Robertson, tying the contest.
Illini West grabbed the lead in the second inning.
Carlisle opened the inning by reaching on an error by Kollin Knupp in right. He advanced to second on a sac bunt by Gavin Skien.
Holton Darbyshire singled to center with Carlisle advancing to third. Eli Bisby’s double to right scored Carlisle, giving Illini West a 2-1 lead.
Robertson was intentionally walked to load the bases before Cash Jones hit a sacrifice fly to left. That allowed Liam Murphy, who was serving as a courtesy runner for Darbyshire, to score, giving the Chargers a 3-1 lead.
Macomb loaded the bases with one out in the fourth. Carlisle got Leighton Lambert to ground into a fielder’s choice, getting the force out at home for the second out.
He then retired Isaac Leinbach on a fly ball to center to end the inning.
Illini West upped its lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth, using a walk and three singles, with Jones and Grady Blue recording run-scoring hits.
The Chargers tallied their final three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Two walks and a single loaded the bases before Hocker singled to left, scoring the first run. Austin Cramer and Skien then drew bases-loaded walks to force home two runs.
Carlisle retired the final 11 batters he faced, finishing with nine strikeouts and two walks with one hit batter.
Elbe, Aiden Reynolds and Jaxon Barclay had one hit each for MHS, all singles.
Elbe pitched five innings, allowing five runs, three earned, on eight hits. He struck out two and walked four.
Hayden Katz pitched the sixth, allowing three earned runs on three hits. He struck out one and walked three.
“I felt like we just got outplayed by a really solid baseball team,” said MHS coach John Ogle of Illini West. “We struggled a little bit at the plate and had some opportunities with runners in scoring position that we weren’t able to cash in on.”
“I thought Carlisle threw a really good game, and they played good defense behind him,” Ogle added. “We just weren’t able to get much going offensively after the first few innings. And then on the other side, they swung the bats really well against us and were able to take advantage of every mistake we made and free base that we gave them.”
On Friday, the Bombers headed to East Moline for non-conference play against Western Big 6 foe United Township.
Five Macomb errors led to five unearned runs for the hosts as the Panthers recorded a 6-2 victory.
MHS dropped to 12-9 on the season, while United Township improved to 11-11.
Quinn Scott’s RBI single in the bottom of the first gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead. It scored Dominic Stottler, who had singled, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball.
United Township upped its lead to 4-0 in the second.
The first two Panthers reached on a base hit and an error before scoring on Sammy Graf’s two-run double to left.
Graf advanced to third on a ground ball out and scored on a two-out single by Stottler.
The Bombers got on the scoreboard in the top of the third, scoring twice.
Watson singled with one out before Elbe and Jake Ogle were hit by pitches to load the bases.
Watson scored when Kaden Knupp reached on a fielder’s choice. Reynolds then hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Elbe, trimming the Panther lead to 4-2.
UTHS scored a run in the bottom of the fifth.
After the first two batters were retired, Zach Darras singled before Brody Oppendike doubled, advancing Darras to third.
Darras scored on an error by Watson at short.
The Panthers then used a walk, sac bunt, error and fielder’s choice to score their final run in the bottom of the sixth.
UTHS out-hit Macomb 8-5.
Watson and Elbe each had a hit and scored a run. Kaden Knupp and Reynolds recorded RBIs.
Ogle, Barclay and Blaine Eddington added one hit apiece.
Barclay pitched 5.2 innings, allowing six runs, one earned, on eight hits. He struck out four and walked two.
Tyler Shulz recorded the final out in the sixth inning.
“Even though we only put up two runs on the day, I felt like we put together a lot of quality at-bats,” said Ogle. “We had times where we would work a good at-bat and hit a baseball hard, but it was just right at someone.”
“It was another game where we had some opportunities with runners on base that we just were not able to take advantage of,” he added. “On the defensive side, I thought Jaxon threw really well for us. He was able to get a lot of soft contact and keep hitters off balance. A lot of their hits were ground balls that found holes or soft bloopers that fell in.”
Graf and Scott recorded two runs batted in each for UTHS. Stottler had two hits and knocked in a run, while Darras and Oppendike each had two hits.
Scott pitched four innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits. He struck out four and hit three batters.
Isaac Roman pitched the final three innings, allowing one hit and one walk, hitting one batter.
