Sports
Baseball: Top of the Order Sets Table for Rich Central
Rich Central 10, Joliet Central 4. Top three hitters in the Olympians' batting order get on base all day long, causing headaches for the Steelmen.
Touching all the Bases: Brandon Fowler, Nick Collins and Tyler House combined to go 6-for-8, including a home run and 6 RBIs in Rich Central's 10-4 baseball victory over Joliet Central on Tuesday. After jumping to a 3-0 lead after three innings, Rich Central starting pitcher Jalen Purchase was cruising along. However, in the fourth, he walked four batters and allowed the Steelmen to take a 4-3 lead. Fowler came on in relief of Purchase with the bases loaded and no outs. He was able to get out of the jam as well as hold down the Steelmen the rest of the game. The Olympians rallied in their next at-bat, scoring three runs, highlighted by a home run by House. Four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning put the game out of reach.
After Purchase was removed and Fowler came on, it appeared the Steelmen were going to have a huge inning. Fowler used his off-speed pitches to keep Joliet Central off balance and got out of the fourth inning jam and was never really threatened the rest of the game.
Patch’s MVP: Nick Collins, Rich Central second basemen. He came to the plate with in the bottom of the sixth with the chance to hit for the cycle. In the first inning, Collins had an RBI double. In the second, he had a two-run triple. In the fourth, he added an RBI single. But he had to settle for a single in the sixth, no cycle, but an MVP worthy performance.
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Joliet Central Leader: Catcher John Johnson had one of the two Steelmen hits, driving in two runs with a double in the fourth.
Rich Central leaders: Nick Collins (4-for-4, 4 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, 2 runs),Tyler House (1-for-1, HR, 2 RBIs, 3 walks, 2 runs and 2 stolen bases).
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Quotable I: “We didn’t have any (good) swings the entire ballgame," Joliet Central coach Tony Juarez said. “We never hit anything hard. I counted two balls hit hard the entire ballgame, including outs.”
Quotable II: “My hat's off to him (Fowler in relief),” Rich Central coach Corey Stallings said. “He did a good job, came in throwing strikes, wasn’t trying to overpower anybody and did a good job keeping them off balance.”
Team Records: Rich Central improved to 3-0. Joliet Central dropped to 1-2.
What’s next: Rich Central plays at Oak Forest at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Joliet Central host Bradley-Bourbonnias Wednesday.
