Morris Area boys improve to 3-0

The Morris Area baseball team improved to 3-0 this season with a 13-9 win over Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on the road Friday.

The Tigers scored 12 runs in the first three innings and held on for a victory over the defending West Central Conference South champions.

"Morris never had an easy inning in the field due to a combination of miscues and good Falcon hitting," said coach Lyle Rambow.

The Tigers committed nine errors, while the Falcons were error free.

Nate Gades and Tyler Hansen combined for six strike outs and three walks.

"They had to battle hard every inning, due to extra base runners via Tiger errors," said Rambow.

The Tigers took an early lead with six runs in the first inning.

"The Tigers combined good hitting and base running with A-C-GC's wild starter" said Rambow.

The Falcons' pitcher walked three in the first inning.

In the first, Dustin Sauter had a two-RBI double on his way to a 4-of-5 and five RBI game.

The first was capped by Jon Jallo's two-RBI squeeze bunt, which scored Darrick Henrichs from third and Ryan Beyer all the way from second on the throw to first.

In the third the Tigers loaded the bases on two walks (Jallo and Mitch Carbert) and a single by Hansen. Then consecutive RBI hits from Chris Boettcher, Sauter with a double, and Gades scored four in the inning.

Sauter tripled in the fifth and scored on a Gades grounder to complete the Tiger scoring.

A-C-GC added two in the sixth and two more in the seventh, but still trailed by four runs.

"We had some excellent clutch hitting with nine RBIs," said Rambow. "Sauter had a big day with the stick.

"In the field we just wouldn't give our own pitcher a break by allowing extra base runners due to errors," added Rambow. "Our team had an off day in the field and I think it will prove out that we're a good fielding team.

"A-C-GC still has to be considered a favorite to be in the title chase at the end."