The Cicero Rattlers entered their third winter league season looking to keep their win streak alive as they met up with SBC on Saturday night in the Sports Center arena.
On this night, the Rattlers were set to test the arms of three pitchers, Kenton “KJ” Cochran, Lucas Thelen and Jacob Calabria. All three faced challenging situations, but rose to the occasion as they held off SBC’s offense.
Cochran started on the mound for the Rattlers, where he gave up 2 runs on walks and hits before ending the inning with a strike out. Thelen followed Cochran and pitched 3 solid innings where he gave up one run (HR). Calabria closed out the game with a nail-biter of a finish.
The Rattlers benefited from some walks and hits in the first inning. With Jacob Calabria and Nicholas Capece on base, a Daniel Capp single brought in Calabria and a Cochran single drove in Capece to tie the score at 2. Unfortunately for SBC, walks of Luke Crawford and Connor Pearce helped bring in another 4 runs to end the inning with a score of 5-2, Rattlers.
The Rattlers brought in another run in the 4th inning (Luke Crawford) to make the score 6-2, Rattlers. SBC scored their final fun in the 5th inning thanks to a homerun.
With the score sitting at 6-3, Rattlers, Jacob Calabria found himself in a challenging situation… with bases loaded off of 3 walks, and with 2 outs, the final batter had a chance to win the game. If he was walked, then SBC would automatically receive 4 runs due to the indoor league rule that awards 4 runs off of 4 walks (and ends the inning). After the batter reached a 3-2 full count, he managed to foul off 2 balls before being struck out by Calabria to end the game.
Highlights of the night:
Thelen (P) to Crawford (C) play at home for a big out with runners on.
Pearce (3B) to Thelen (1B) for the out.
First inning scores by Calabria and Capece off of hits by Capp and Cochran.
Multiple strike-outs by Cochran, Thelen and Calabria.
Hits by Capp, Cochran and Sadowski.
Final strike of the game thrown by Calabria, who was one ball away from the game going to SBC.
MVP on the night was KJ Cochran for his single, RBI, defensive plays and pitching.
Team quote for this game (oldie but a goodie): There is no “I” in “TEAM”