Big day for Jones at the plate leads Hawks to 10-0 win over Calhoun
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CARROLLTON - Before the season started, Gabe Jones didn’t have much to say about his hitting capabilities.
It turns out, the standout senior pitching ace for the Carrollton Hawks has been a menace at the plate. It also helps when he’s batting behind Nathan Walker, whose average is a staggering .620 so far this season and has inevitably forced opposing pitchers to pitch around or walk him. That’s led to Jones getting good pitches to hit and owning a .449 batting average.
“I’ve been seeing the ball really well, and good things have been happening,” Jones said. “I haven’t really changed anything it’s just coming to me naturally I guess. It’s always kind of a funny situation when they walk our best hitter. It’s understandable, but it always makes me feel awkward when they walk the guy to get to you. I was just glad I could come through and hit the ball hard.”
Jones was a big help for the Hawks at the plate against the Calhoun Warriors as he went 2-for-2 with two doubles and 4 RBI as Carrollton charged past the Warriors for a 10-0 victory in five innings during a Western Illinois Valley (South) Conference game at Carrollton High School on Thursday.
The Hawks banged out ten hits with Garrett Settles, Grant Pohlman, and Curtis Lake all tallying two base knocks apiece.
Carrollton improves to 18-5 and 6-0 in the WIVC while taking both games over Calhoun this week after previously beating them 5-1 on Tuesday. It’s the seventh successive victory over the Warriors for the Hawks. Carrollton will need a win over the Greenfield-NW Tigers on May 3, which will be resumed in the sixth inning after a rain delay from earlier in the season, to clinch them their third consecutive outright conference title.
The Warriors move to 11-13 and 6-3 in the WIVC South.
“We stranded runners in every inning. We never could get the big hit with runners in scoring position,” Calhoun head coach Casey Longnecker said. “It changes the complex of the game, get the kids more into it instead of being down 4-0 or 6-0. There wasn’t enough fight in them right there.”
They got off on the wrong foot in the early going as Cory Nelson, their 6-foot-7 lefty sophomore, walked the first four batters in the first inning to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead and head coach Casey Longnecker saw enough and inserted A.J. Hillen.
Garrett Settles would cash in with the bases loaded as he roped a deep fly ball into center field for a two-run double plating Walker and Gus Coonrod to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead.
“He’s had a rough last two outings,” Longnecker said of Nelson. “We could tell right away he didn’t have it. A.J. came in and threw strikes, but Carrollton is a good hitting team. They’re going to get to you eventually.”
Ethan Brannan took the mound for Carrollton, and although he allowed a runner on base every inning, he still managed to toss a complete game shutout. He finished with five strikeouts, one walk, and allowed four hits in five innings pitched.
“He didn’t have his best stuff today, but he showed he can get out of a lot of jams and make big pitches,” Carrollton coach Jeff Krumwiede said. “Our defense was a struggle, and it’s exciting every game for us. Hopefully, we’re going to get better, and we’ll keep working at it.”
Walker led off the bottom of the third by almost knocking the ball over the left field fence, but settled for a double. However, sophomore left fielder, Colby Clark tracking down the ball, ran out of real estate and into a poll on the fence, injuring his knee forcing him to come out of the game. Longnecker hopes that it’s “just a contusion and stiffens up.”
Jones was up next, and he singled in Walker making it 4-0. A double off the left field fence by Brannan and another single by Settles made it 6-0 Carrollton.
In the next inning, Jones was at it again but was rather fortunate. On a 1-2 pitch with two outs, he checked his swing and apparently, was called out by the home plate umpire, but asked his assistant standing near second base, who was unable to determine if Jones swung all the way. Unsure of the decision, the pitch was ruled a ball, and on the next delivery, Jones rammed the ball into the gap for a two-run double making it 8-0 Hawks.
“He should get extra excitement when they walk Walker ahead of him,” Krumwiede said of Jones. “He understands the importance of following Walker, and he’s over .400 now too. It’s a great 1-2 punch in the middle of the order.”
Carrollton ended the game in the fifth with back-to-back RBI singles by freshman Grant Pohlman and Gus Coonrod.
The Hawks travel up north to Quincy to take on the Notre Dame Raiders, who previously defeated Carrollton 11-3 in the Beardstown Tournament on April 12. QND is currently 17-3 and one of the best teams in Class 2A. After enduring a three-game losing streak two weeks ago, Carrollton has now won six of their last seven, including their best victory of the season last Wednesday against the Jersey Panthers (12-7).
“We’ve been doing really good lately,” Jones said. “The win over Jerseyville was awesome and a pretty good confidence booster. We gotta finish out that Greenfield game and then we’re going to play a lot of big schools and better competition. I’m excited to see how we do.”
With ten games to go in the season, Calhoun has proved overall they can produce runs in bunches, but the pitching has been the primary concern. Longnecker plans on playing for the postseason and see where his team stands.
“We’re playing for May,” Longnecker said. We’re getting ready for regionals. We don’t have a lot of depth at pitching and a lot of games we put too many guys on base. We got a lot of high scores. Once we get things figured out with Cory and get him back on track and Drew [Baalman] we can still compete. We got a good chance if we get in the right regional we can still compete.”
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