Anderson provides lift for Tornado
Butler claims section
debut, 5-1
April 9, 2019 High School Baseball
The hot water Colby Anderson stepped into
began to boil with a walk that loaded the bases.
The senior then used his left arm to freeze Allderdice's hopes of a rally.
Anderson entered Monday's Section 1-6A
baseball game with two on and none out in the top of the sixth inning with
Butler ahead 5-1. After issuing the free pass to Rob
Jones, the former then struck out three straight batters to end the threat.
The seventh frame was a little less tense.
Emilio Loya walked
to begin the frame, but courtesy runner Keisake Ichikana was gunned down while trying to steal second base
by Butler catcher Nathan Stutz. Anderson did the rest, closing out the four-run
victory at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Historic Pullman Park with five
strikeouts in just 1 2/3 innings pitched.
Anderson's fastball overwhelmed Allderdice's hitters.
“If my fastball isn't working that well, I
go to my change-up or slider,” said Anderson, a left-hander. “But it was
working today and that's what I stuck with. I used it to get all of my
strikeouts.”
It was only the second appearance on the
mound for Anderson this season, but Golden Tornado coach Cody Herald sees a
different role in his future.
“With Colby on the basketball team, we
didn't give him a whole lot of innings early on,” said Herald, “but we're
hoping to move him into the starting rotation.”
Anderson's effort followed a solid start
from junior Austin Rodgers, who earned the win with two strikeouts, four walks
and just one unearned run allowed on three hits in five-plus innings.
“Austin has a natural gift and that's
movement on his fastball,” said Herald. “I think he's a lot like Grant Metzger,
who pitched for us last year. He gets a lot of groundballs.”
The fine pitching duo came at a great time
for Butler. After losing five straight non-section games, the Tornado (2-5,
1-0) were looking to begin the section slate on a high note.
“I relayed it to the guys before the game,”
added Herald. “At the beginning of the year, that's when you learn. We didn't
get the results we were looking for, but we learned what we need to improve on.
It's a new season.”
Butler's offense also sparked the win with
10 hits and success against all three of Allderdice's
pitchers.
Anderson got things started with a single
that plated Kyle Weitzel in the bottom of the first
against Dragon starter Sean Graves.
With the game tied at 1-all, Butler scored
twice in the fourth and again in the fifth.
The first pair were
charged to losing pitcher Jones. His one-out walks to Mattix
Clement and Bryan Presco came back to haunt him.
Clement scored on a wild pitch and Presco later scored on a throwing error.
Simon Brown drilled a double that plated JR Herold in the fifth and David Leslie followed with a base
hit that brought home Brown.
Weitzel finished the game with a
double and triple.
“We took a lot of good swings tonight,”
Herald said. “Timely hitting was huge for us.”
Allderdice 001 000 0 — 1 3 2
Butler 100 220 x — 5 10 1
W: Austin Rodgers 5+ IP (2K, 4BB). L: Rob
Jones 2 IP (2K, 4BB).
Allderdice (2-1, 0-1): Evan Carter
1B, Winston Rouse 1B, Blake Haber 1B R
Butler (2-5, 1-0): Kyle Weitzel
2B 3B R, Colby Anderson 2-1B RBI, JR Herold 1B R,
Simon Brown 1B 2B R RBI, David Leslie 2-1B RBI, Bryan Presco
1B R