TERRE HAUTE —
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.
Because the visiting Dubois County Bombers had clinched the Prospect League’s first-half title earlier in the week, Rex manager Brian Dorsett was free to do some experimenting and wound up looking like a genius as the Rex played virtually flawlessly and won 8-3.
Nick Cunningham, making his first start “in I don’t know how many years,” Dorsett said afterward, pitched five strong innings and was helped by three of his team’s four double plays, and Casey McCurdy continued to climb out of a recent hitting slump with a three-run homer and a single.
“Tonight was better,” Dorsett agreed. “Good defense, some really nice double plays, everybody threw well and we swung the bats really well. Casey McCurdy got us going and we had a lot of people contributing. Good situational baseball.”
“A lot of people who’d been without at-bats for awhile got a few hits,” added Nick Johnson. “It was good for the team.”
Johnson, playing shortstop and batting fifth, got the Rex on the board in the bottom of the first inning. With two out and nobody on base, Patrick Chandler was hit by a pitch, Michael Schroeder walked and Johnson lined an RBI single past second base.
Then McCurdy, 1 for 2 with a double on Thursday but still hitting under .200, blasted his homer to left-center, maybe 50 feet to the left of the 402-foot sign.
“The coaches have been working with me and we’re figuring some things out,” he said afterward. “It was good to get a couple of good swings tonight.
“Left and left-center is where I’ve always hit the ball hard,” the left-handed batter continued. “I squared it up pretty good. I knew it was gone.”
Johnson had started a nifty double play after Landon Curry of the Bombers — and Indiana State — had left off the top of the first with a single. The next inning, however, Johnson outdid himself.
With one out Cunningham had given up sharp singles to Jeff Zahn and Cody Daily, and Chris Taveras lined a shot up the middle that looked headed for center field. Johnson dove to his left and got a glove on the ball, flipping it to Edmund Cheatham for an inning-ending twin killing.
“I dove for it and the ball popped out of my glove,” the Rex shortstop said afterward, “but I didn’t panic … four [double plays] is the most I’ve ever had in a game, and we needed that.”
Cunningham, who had been a late-innings reliever with the Rex before arm trouble last season, gave up a run in the third on an RBI single by Curry but was strong through five innings, getting help from a third double play in the fifth. “He’ll be in the rotation [in the second half],” Dorsett promised.
The Rex got three more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a run-scoring single by Jacob Hayes and a two-out, two-run triple by Schroeder, then added their final run in the sixth on a hit by McCurdy, an infield out, a wild pitch and Michael Eberle’s sacrifice fly. Billy Timmerman, John Oltman and Josh Dove pitched the final four innings, Timmerman — helped by the fourth double play — and Oltman each touched for harmless runs.
It was a good night for ISU players too. Five different Sycamores combined for eight hits — two each by McCurdy, Eberle and Curry and one each by Hayes and Zahn — while Kurt Kudrecki had a scoreless relief stint for the visitors.
“I think we’re coming together and getting more confidence,” McCurdy concluded when asked about the Rex’s possibilities. “The second half [which starts Tuesday with a two-game series at Quincy] will be good for us, I think.”
Rex 8, Bombers 3
Dubois Co. ab r h bi Terre Haute ab r h bi
Curry lf 4 0 2 1 Chthm 2b-ss 4 0 0 0
Rouleau ss 4 0 0 0 Hayes lf-3b 4 1 1 1
Rawdow 2b 2 0 0 0 Chandler rf 3 2 1 0
Ausmus pr-2b 1 1 0 0 Schroeder 1b 2 1 1 2
Brake 1b 4 0 1 1 Zmmrman 1b 1 0 1 0
Zahn dh 4 0 1 0 Johnson ss 3 1 1 1
Daily 3b 4 0 1 0 Rynlds ph-2b 1 0 0 0
Tavares c 3 0 1 0 McCurdy cf 4 2 2 3
Neel rf 3 0 0 0 Bowles c 4 0 0 0
Nyman cf 2 2 2 0 Eberle dh 3 0 2 1
Mahoney 3b 1 1 0 0
Glore lf 1 0 0 0
Totals 31 3 8 2 Totals 31 8 9 8
Dubois Co. Bombers 001 001 010 — 3
Terre Haute Rex 400 031 00x — 8
E — Brake, Rawdow. DP — DCB 1, THR 4. LOB — DCB 3, THR 5. 3B — Schroeder. HR — McCurdy (2). SB — Chandler, Rawdow, Nyman. CS — Eberle. SF — Eberle.
IP H R ER BB SO
Dubois County Bombers
Luna (L) 5 2/3 6 8 5 3 5
Kudrecki 2 1/3 3 0 0 1 1
Terre Haute Rex
Cunningham (W) 5 6 1 1 1 1
Timmerman 2 1 1 1 0 2
Oltman 1 1 1 1 0 2
Dove 1 0 0 0 0 0
WP — Cunningham, Luna. HBP — by Luna (Chandler). T — 2:25. Att — 827.
Next — The Terre Haute Rex (16-13) and Dubois County Bombers (20-9) complete first-half play with a 6:15 p.m. game today at Huntingburg. Next home game for the Rex is 7:05 p.m. Thursday against Danville.
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