TERRE HAUTE —
With temperatures over 100 degrees Friday, affairs at Bob Warn Field took a walk on the wild side.
The Terre Haute Rex walked 10 times and scored four runs before collecting their first hit against Hannibal Cavemen starter Kevin Lenkman, a Butler University left-hander. That early lead was enough for the Rex — but barely — as the home team gave up four runs with some sloppy defense in the ninth, resulting in a final score of 6-5.
Rex starter Kyle Zimmerman (3-0) retired the first 10 batters he faced in what began as a pitcher’s duel. That changed when Lenkman, who only threw 29 of his 78 pitches for strikes, started to labor.
In the fourth inning alone, the Rex scored four times, taking advantage of five walks, a hit batsmen and a wild pitch. It took a wild play to end the inning too; Jacob Hayes was thrown out at home trying to score on a passed ball.
The Rex finally broke through when Patrick Chandler delivered a pinch-hit single through the right side in the fifth inning.
“It was crazy. I’ve never seen a game like that at any level, never even seen a Little League game like that,” Rex manager Brian Dorsett said. “The guy was pitching to where he was effectively wild, he had a pretty good fastball then all of a sudden he lost his slot, I don’t know.”
Zimmerman was sharp all night except for the top of the fifth inning when Lenkman’s wildness may have become contagious. Zimmerman walked the first two batters in the inning, leading to an unearned run scoring on a throwing error by second baseman Alex Reynolds.
The heat wasn’t difficult at all for Zimmerman, he explained.
“It’s not too bad. Your arm feels great, you’re real loose and everything feels like it’s working pretty good. All you have to do is make sure your hand stays dry,” Zimmerman said. “Me and Brian [Norwood] were on the same page all day. He had a lot of good calls back there.”
Zimmerman lowered his earned-run average to 2.70 on the season.
“He’s just a gamer,” Dorsett said. “He’s using his breaking ball ahead and behind in the count and keeping guys off balanced.”
Billy Timmerman tossed a scoreless eighth and closer Nick Blount allowed two earned runs — four overall — in a sloppy ninth inning for Terre Haute, which is out of contention for a first-half division title.
“We’ve got another tough game tomorrow night. We stay away from the errors, keep the ball low, we’ll be all right,” Zimmerman said.
Terre Haute will play host to Dubois County tonight and visit the Bombers on Sunday for the first-half finale.
The team turns its attention to the second half, which Dorsett was able to manage his team to win in 2011.
“If we clean up our game defensively, it should be a nice opportunity for us to take advantage of going after the second half. But we’ve got to do it defensively,” Dorsett said.
Chandler, who arrived earlier this week, led the Rex with two hits off the bench. The Rockhurst University junior outfielder is 6-for-10 in four games so far with a stolen base.
Rex 6, Cavemen 5
Hannibal ab r h bi Terre Haute ab r h bi
Mangler 2b 5 0 0 0 Hayes lf 4 0 1 1
Golden ss 4 0 1 0 Reynolds 2b 3 0 0 2
Nichols lf 0 0 0 0 Kempf cf 3 0 0 0
Goodman cf 3 0 0 0 Schroeder 1b 3 1 1 0
Sikes dh 3 1 0 0 Johnson ss 2 1 0 0
Filliben 3b 4 1 2 0 Norwood c 2 0 0 1
Foster cf-lf 2 2 1 0 Glore dh 1 1 0 0
Light 1b 3 1 0 1 Chandler dh 2 0 2 0
Wolf rf 4 0 0 1 Mahoney 3b 3 1 0 0
Peters c 4 0 0 1 McCurdy rf 2 2 1 1
Totals 32 5 4 3 Totals 25 6 5 6
Hannibal 000 010 004 — 5
Terre Haute 000 411 00x — 6
E — Reynolds 2 (5), D.Peters (1). LOB — H 5, TH 8. 2B — McCurdy (3). SB — Johnson (6), Chandler (1), McCurdy (2). DP — H 1, TH 0. CS — Hayes (2).
IP H R ER BB SO
Hannibal
Lenkman 3 2/3 0 4 4 9 4
Watson 2 1/3 2 2 1 1 1
Powers 1 1 0 0 0 0
Martin 1 2 0 0 0 1
Terre Haute
Zimmerman (W, 3-0) 7 2 1 0 3 3
Timmerman 1 0 0 0 0 1
Blount 1 2 4 2 1 0
T — 2:25. A — 622.
Next — Terre Haute (15-13) plays host to Dubois County tonight at 7:05 p.m. Hannibal (15-13) plays host to Springfield tonight.
Terre Haute Rex
Rex score 4 before getting first hit, then hang on for win
- Terre Haute Rex
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2012 an up, down season for Rex
The Terre Haute Rex went through plenty of trials and tribulations during the summer of 2012.
The team got off to a sluggish start to settle for third place during the first half of the Prospect League race, but manager Brian Dorsett rallied the troops to a second-half title. -
Metro Roundup: Dorsett, Rex players honored in Prospect League postseason awards
Terre Haute Rex closer Nick Blount won one award and shared another and Brian Dorsett shared Manager of the Year honors as the Prospect League announced postseason awards Saturday.
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Rex out of playoffs
Successful playoff baseball = clean baseball.
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Rex mix, match their way to win
The Terre Haute Rex clinched a playoff spot last Thursday … but there were still four games to be played.
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Rex turn eye to Prospect playoffs
Fans attending this evening’s Terre Haute Rex game should expect some handouts, some surprises — and probably better start by the home team than the Rex could provide Saturday night.
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Rex drop road game to Sliders 7-1
One night after a dramatic come-from-behind victory, the Terre Haute Rex went down meekly to the Springfield Sliders 7-1 in Prospect League baseball Friday night.
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Rex defeat Springfield twice, clinch spot in playoffs
It was a long but fruitful night for the playoff-bound Terre Haute Rex.
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Playoff march continues: Rex creep closer to postseason with victory over Dans
Hire the band, make the floats, and rent out a street.
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Rex split, retain 3 1⁄2-game advantage in West Division
A five-run ninth-inning rally fell far short for the Terre Haute Rex on Sunday night in Prospect League baseball.
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No no-hitter, but Rex triumphs
Kyle Zimmerman took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, lost his control and the lead, but the Terre Haute Rex offense had an immediate answer Friday night at Bob Warn Field.
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Travel baseball teams enjoy busy summer
So in the past two or three years, the increase in local travel baseball options has been led by three groups, Indiana (formerly Terre Haute) Havoc, Riley Recreation League and Junior Rex.
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First-place Rex top rival Bombers
If you haven’t been to a Terre Haute Rex game yet this season, tonight might be the time to go.
The Rex have a second straight home game against the Dubois County Bombers, a potential Prospect League West Division playoff preview — and a battle between maybe the division’s two biggest rivals. -
Rex top Cavemen, raise record to 14-6
The first-place Terre Haute Rex picked up a 6-4 victory Wednesday at Hannibal, Mo., against the Cavemen.
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Rex win first game of Saturday doubleheader
Terre Haute maintained its stronghold on first place in the Prospect League West Division on Saturday, the Rex defeating Dubois County 6-1 in the first game of a doubleheader.
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Strunc fans 10, Rex win 12-10
Power pitching and power hitting kept a season-high crowd of 1,732 Rex fans on the edge of their seats Friday night at Bob Warn Field.
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Starting role suits Cunningham as Rex win
Nick Cunningham took the mound Thursday in his relatively new role as starting pitcher looking to give the Terre Haute Rex some breathing room atop the Prospect League West Division standings.
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Rex fall at Danville, maintain two-game division lead
The Terre Haute Rex lost 7-4 on Wednesday at Danville, falling to 9-4 in the second half of the Prospect League schedule.
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High drama, but no win
Pinch-hitter Michael Eberle provided patient Terre Haute Rex fans with plenty of excitement by belting a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the score against the Springfield Sliders at 9-9.
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Rex cool off against Springfield
It was a game Terre Haute probably didn’t deserve to win, and, despite an outstanding bullpen effort and focused hitting in the last few innings, the Rex did lose Monday for the first time since July 4 at Quincy.
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Rex roll to lead in division
A constant theme repeated by Terre Haute Rex manager Brian Dorsett is how his summer-league collegians adjust to the everyday schedule, rather than the four or five-game slates they’re used to.
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Rex bounce back, dominate Dans
Terre Haute reaped the bounty of three Danville errors in the second inning. The Rex made the Dans pay for each of their errors with eight base hits in the inning and Terre Haute never looked back on its way to an 11-4 victory in front of sweltering crowd of 669.
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Rex open second half with victory at Quincy
The Terre Haute Rex opened the second half of the Prospect League season with a 8-7 victory Tuesday night at Quincy Stadium.
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Head coach could be next stop for Prettyman
Credited in part to some unforgettable memories at Cal State Fullerton, where Ronnie Prettyman scored the winning run in the 2004 College World Series, the Indiana State and Terre Haute Rex assistant coach wants to pursue a future in college coaching.
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Cunningham, McCurdy pace Rex to win over league leader
What was essentially a meaningless baseball game as far as the standings were concerned couldn’t have gone much better for the Terre Haute Rex on Saturday night at Bob Warn Field.
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Rex score 4 before getting first hit, then hang on for win
With temperatures over 100 degrees Friday, affairs at Bob Warn Field took a walk on the wild side.
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Rex duo working overtime
It’s obviously a bonus to recruit a college baseball player that can pitch once a week and take the field and bat in the middle of the batting order the rest of the time.
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Rex fall 7-1 to Hannibal
The Terre Haute Rex lost 7-1 on Thursday, falling behind 4-0 after the first inning at Bob Warn Field.
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Rex have winning streak snapped
The season-long five-game winning streak of the Terre Haute Rex came to an end Wednesday night at Dubois County.
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Rex move within four games of first-place Dubois County
The Terre Haute Rex moved within four games of the first-place Dubois County Bombers, scoring the first 11 runs in a 12-6 shellacking at Bob Warn Field on Tuesday.
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Rex take third straight, move to 12-11 overall
Wildness cost the Terre Haute Rex a precarious lead in the fifth inning, but thankfully for the home team Quincy returned the favor in the bottom of the ninth inning.
- More Terre Haute Rex Headlines
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