Two hits, too few: Glenwood scoreless in 1-0 loss to Champaign Central in baseball sectional

LINCOLN — Two massive efforts to get out of bases-loaded jams in the first two innings could’ve been pivotal in Chatham Glenwood’s effort to get past the Class 3A Lincoln Sectional semifinals on Thursday.

Instead, Champaign Central pulled out a 1-0 win over Glenwood to end the season of a team which looked to get back to the state tournament, where Glenwood — the Central State Eight Conference champions — finished second in 2022.

The Maroons managed just one run despite getting seven hits in the first two innings and their two senior pitchers prevented Glenwood baserunners from ever getting past second base.

“Two hits, you’re not going to win a ballgame like that,” Glenwood coach Casey Erickson said. “The bats have been cold a little bit lately and they stayed cold today. Tip your hat to (Champaign Central pitcher Kendall) Crawford: he threw really well and we just couldn’t get anything going.”

Champaign Central (25-10) will face Rochester (20-15) in the Class 3A Lincoln Sectional championship at Mike Curry Field on Saturday at 10 a.m. That winner will face the Centralia Sectional victor in the Decatur Super-Sectional on Monday at 6 p.m. at Millikin University.  Mount Vernon and Effingham play at 11 a.m. on Saturday for the Centralia championship.

Crawford pitched five innings and allowed two hits and two walks. He struck out four. Max Quirk only let one Glenwood batter reach in his two innings for the save.  

Glenwood’s Joe Anderson drew a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Cole Workman. With Jackson Rose in for Anderson as a pinch runner, Quirk struck out Mason Marshall before forcing a ground ball out by Jacob Ahlberg for the final out.

Only once did the Titans (27-5) even put multiple runners on base. In the top of the fourth, Krayton Reincke lined a single through the left side of the infield. Glenwood’s Parker Detmers, who has committed to pitch at the University of Louisville, then drew a walk to give the Titans runners at first and second. Crawford struck out Anderson and got Workman to hit into a fielder’s choice to end Glenwood’s best threat of the game.

Marshall led off the fifth with a single to left but three consecutive Titans — Colten Knoedler, Jace Easley and leadoff hitter Alex Cashman — were unable to bring Marshall home.  

Glenwood went down in order three times in the game. Crawford retired nine straight hitters from the first inning to the fourth.

After Crawford retired Cashman to end the top of the fifth, Central coach John Staab brought in Quirk for the final six outs.

“(It was) the third time through the order so we thought we’d give (Glenwood hitters) a little different look, we felt Kendall was losing a little bit — he had pitched a hell of a game up to that point and with the weather and everything he had to deal with: the rain, the delay, so hat’s off to Kendall, he was a senior who stepped up big time for us today.” 

Glenwood’s Stephen Hartwick gave up seven hits and one run in the first two innings. His strikeout of Luke McClure with bases loaded and one out helped the Titans escape without giving up a tally to the Maroons in the first.

But with two outs in the bottom of the second, T.J. Pipkins pulled a pitch to right field to score Kevin Lehr for a 1-0 lead. 

“I am very confident in the guys we had out there,” Erickson said. “Hartwick gave up seven hits but it was a lot of ground balls. I didn’t feel real threatened. He worked out of a nice jam and they scratched one run but we’ve got to score to win anyway.” 

The Titans turned to Landon Marconi in the third inning. He struck out five and scattered three hits in four innings pitched. 

“Landon, I usually don’t extend him that far: he’s usually a one inning guy, maybe two, but man he was pitching great,” Erickson said. “I didn’t see any reason why to take him out.” 

Staab knew if his team lost, he could point to those missed opportunities in the first two innings. 

“Let’s face it: we were kind of the underdog coming in, so I think we played loose,” Staab said. “But when we left bases loaded twice early and didn’t get but one run, you start to think, ‘Man, we lost a chance.’  

“To our kids’ credit and Kendall’s credit and Max’s credit, our pitching coach Dom Erlinger, our whole staff, we’re believing right now.”

The Maroons stranded nine runners.

Detmers pitched on Saturday as Glenwood beat Sacred Heart-Griffin 2-1 to win the 3A SHG Regional title. Because of pitch-count rules regarding number of days of rest, he was unavailable on Thursday. Central pitching coach Dom Erlinger was OK with that.  

“We caught a break here: we didn’t have to see Parker Detmers here today; I know that kid can really throw it. We’ll take all the breaks we can get,” Erlinger said.  

NOTE: The start of the game was delayed by more than 30 minutes after thunder was heard in the area just as Glenwood was finishing its infield warm-ups. A light rain fell on and off for the first four or five innings. 

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.