Coleman goes 3 for 3, but Maconaquah hands Rochester 2nd TRC loss

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brady Coleman

BUNKER HILL — Freshman Randy Landrum drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, and Deven Mitchell outdueled Rochester’s Parker Casper and Brant Beck on the mound as the Maconaquah baseball team beat the visiting Zebras 4-2 Wednesday.

Brady Coleman went 3 for 3 for Rochester, who dropped to 9-9 overall and 3-2 in the Three Rivers Conference. Maconaquah improved to 7-6, 3-2.

The loss was Rochester’s first to Maconaquah since 2019.

Coleman and Casper had back-to-back RBI singles off Mitchell in the third inning, but Rochester only had two baserunners the rest of the game.

Casper, who pitched an inning in relief and got the save at Wabash Monday, allowed two runs over the first five innings while throwing 64 pitches.

Beck relieved to start the sixth. Rochester coach Cory Good said he made the move because he wanted to give Maconaquah a different look the third time through the batting order.

Beck walked Kobe Bowman, and Eli Grzegorski reached on an error on a grounder to third. Caiden Richards flew out to Trenton Meadows in center for the first out.

Landrum then hit a hot grounder that ticked off the glove of Coleman into shallow left field for an RBI single, and when the throw home to try and get Bowman was late, pinch runner Rylee Peach went to third and Landrum took second.

Mitchell followed with an RBI groundout to Liam Spence at second base to make it 4-2.

Mitchell then got Beck on a grounder to short and struck out Linden Wilburn and Brayson Flory to end it.

“The guys were describing it as maybe a two-seam fastball,” Good said of Mitchell’s repertoire. “It had a little bit of movement to it. He filled the zone up. He worked quick. He was able to work through our order with not a lot of pressure. So credit to him for coming out there and stepping to the moment and just competing tonight. I thought he did a really good job of that.”

Rochester’s half of the third started with Wilburn’s infield single and Braylon Smith’s walk. Spence’s sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third.

Mitchell struck out Zakk Parks looking on a 3-2 pitch, but Coleman beat out a grounder in the hole for an infield single to score Wilburn. Casper then dropped a single in front of right fielder Caiden Richards to score Smith.

Maconaquah answered with their own two-out clutch hitting in the bottom half. Cohen Helmuth led off with an infield single and stole second. Casper struck out Jayden Mercer swinging and got Jack Gochenour on a liner to Coleman at shortstop.

But Marcell Sims doubled to deep left to score Helmuth, and Bowman doubled to deep center to bring home Sims and tie the game.

Casper recovered to retire six straight batters, only of whom even hit the ball out of the infield.

Gochenour ended that streak with a two-out double in the fifth. Rochester then elected to pitch to Sims with first base open, and Casper retired him on a fly ball to Wilburn in right field.

That marked the first time Rochester had ever gotten Sims out. He had been 4 for 4 in his career against them.

Coleman led off the sixth with an infield single, and Casper bunted him to second. A wild pickoff throw that bounced into center field moved Coleman to third with one out, but Mitchell got Paulik on a pop to short and Conner Dunfee on a grounder to second.

“Small ball was there,” Good said. “We moved the runners when we needed to. We just had zero timely hitting. Just disappointing really. I don’t really have a great answer. … Just need to clean some things up and have some better at-bats and just worry about hitting the ball hard.”

In other TRC action Wednesday, Northwestern routed Manchester 12-2 in six innings, and Peru edged Wabash 4-3 in eight innings. Northwestern, Manchester and Peru have one loss each in the conference; every other team has lost at least twice.

“I’ve been doing this long enough,” Good said. “Conference doesn’t mean a lot to me. I’d rather go win a sectional and more things down the road. We’re still searching for answers trying to play our best baseball here late in May. Belief’s still in the dugout. Guys still feel it. There’s some confidence in there, but we’ve got to be able to make the end result a little bit different here.”

Maconaquah 4, Rochester 2

Rochester 002 000 0 – 2 6 1

Maconaquah 002 002 X – 4 5 2

WP – Deven Mitchell (7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K)

LP – Brant Beck (1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K)

2B – Jack Gochenour (MAC), Kobe Bowman (MAC), Marcell Sims (MAC)