Paxton Swedes swept the Royal Giants to fall to 2-8
ST. JOSEPH – The Paxton Swedes lost two games against the Royal Giants in an Eastern Illinois Baseball League double header on Sunday and lost 15-4 in game one and 4-2 in game two.
The Swedes (2-8) led 2-1 through the first five rounds of the second game before the Giants (8-2) made three runs in the sixth inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Nate McCall pulled a leadoff walk before Cooper Hannagan was hit by a pitch with an out. With runners on the first and second base, Hayden Cargo appeared as the Swede’s third baseman Jacob Gronsky before Zach Carr was replaced on the mound by Connor Taylor.
Carr ended his outing with seven strikeouts and four walks while allowing three runs on four hits through 5 2/3 innings.
“Carr made a fantastic match. Carr just loves to compete in this league,” says Swedish player / coach Mark Prina. “Carr and (Ben) Jarboe have both thrown the ball really well.”
Taylor, a former ace pitcher for Danville Area Community College, met lead-off striker Dawson Magrini, who hit 2-for-2 with two doubles in his previous two strokes.
“(Carr) did not want to come out, but his number of pitches was up and (Magrini) hit him hard a couple of times already in the match, and I just thought it was time to get another look,” said Prina.
Taylor went with Magrini to charge the bases before walking with Cody Flowers to send home the damn run. After the green light and an insurance run each were made on a wild pitch, Thomas Wolken knocked out first baseman Max Wyninger for third out.
Taylor finished his outing with three walks and a hit let through 1 1/3 innings as he did not allow a run to score in the seventh round.
“He has not lined up for a while. He is fine. I would put him there in the exact same place. He has simply not lined up for a while. He is a little older and there is a little rust on him,” said Prina. “Once he finds out, it’s another big arm we have for the back of that bullpen.”
Magrini made a green light in the first inning as he took a lead-off walk, stole second base and advanced to third on a sacrificial strike by Flowers before scoring on a Blake Hoveln groundout.
The Swedes responded with two runs at the bottom of the first round when Mason Ecker took a one-time walk before Austin Gomm, a Parkland college baseball player from Canada who attends summer school at Parkland, hit a two-run homer past the midfield fence.
“You could see when he took stroke training that the ball jumps from the bat a little differently than everyone else because he has the extra bath speed,” said Prina.
Gomm started his first double nod with the Swedes in the short stop position.
“We finally have a shortstop. He can play. He has a different skill level. He’s a real shortstop, and that’s what we needed. He just knows how to play shortstop. It’s a big addition to support that part of defense.
“Parkland is a first-class junior college program, so you have to be good to play there. He’s definitely going to get a chance to play Division I. I think we’ll hear about him in the future on a Division I program. and who knows, maybe in the (Major League Baseball) draft sometime. ”
After Gomm’s homer, Dalton Busboom – who ended the match with 2-on-3 – doubled to midfield, but his polite runner, Keagan Busboom, was stranded in points position when Alex Barney and Curtis Norman each struck out.
The Giants ‘starting pitcher, Keegan McCarty, interrupted 15 of the Swedes’ next 17 record appearances before ending his game with 11 strikeouts and two walks while allowing two runs on three hits through six innings.
Kobe Essien knocked out Norman and William Van Duyne to start the bottom of the seventh inning before Prina knocked out to end the match.
“The second game was a good baseball game,” said Prina. “We were close.”
The Giants also had runners on the second and third bases in the second, third and fifth rounds. Hayden Cargo struck out for the third of the second inning and Zach Carr knocked out Colton Carr for the third of the third inning.
In the fifth inning, with runners in points with one out, Zach Carr caught Wolken as he watched strike three for second out and Colton Carr struck out against Gomm.
Partly thanks to two errors by Paxton, who finished game one with three errors, the Giants made four runs in the second inning of the first game to take a 4-0 lead.
Brayden Weaver hit a lead from the inning and Ryan Cheatham took a walk before Magrini hit an RBI single to the left field. Another race was made on a throwing error when Magrini advanced to second base. Magrini stole third base before scoring on a Flowers single on the left field.
After Hoveln was hit by a pitch, a run made a foul on a Wolken ground ball.
“It was about how it had gone (this season). We did not catch it again. If you do not catch the baseball, you give the team extra outs, and they will benefit from it, and they did,” said Prina.
Paxton made two runs at the top of the third inning to reduce his deficit to 4-2.
Van Duyne pulled a one-time walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch before Noah Darr – who ended the match with a 2-for-3 – single to the left field to put runners on the corners. Gomm then sent both runners across the home field with a double to the midfield.
Royal extended their lead to 7-2 when Cheatham hit a two-RBI triple with one out before scoring on a Magrini groundout. In the fourth inning, Wolken took a walk and Colton Carr was hit by a pitch before the Swedes’ starting pitcher Brett Giese was replaced on the mound by Nick Warren.
Giese ended his outing with nine runs on five hits, six walks and three strokes with two strikeouts through three innings.
With Warren on the mound, McFall and Weaver each hit an RBI single. After Casey Dillman took a walk, Cheatham sent a run home via a groundout before Magrini hit an RBI single to midfield to extend the Giants’ lead to 11-2.
At the top of the fifth inning, the Swedes cut down to 11-4. Van Duyne and Darr each took a walk and Dalton Busboom was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs before Alex Barney hit a two-RBI single to left midfield.
“We swung the bat in the first game,” said Prina.
At the bottom of the fifth inning, Colton Carr sent Hoveln home with an RBI single to the left field.
The Giants put together another three runs at the bottom of the sixth inning to clinch the match via the 10-run rule when Magrini reached base on a foul and Flowers single to the left field before the Cloud cleared the bases with a three-run homer past the right field fence.
“There were too many free passes,” Prina said.
Ben Jarboe was not available to pitch for the Swedes due to illness, but Prina said he is hopeful of getting him back along with some extra arms for the pitching staff.
“We have a couple more guys who have committed to pitching in July for us,” said Prina. “It was probably good to give (Jarboe) some rest. He has thrown a lot. We are getting close. I’m optimistic for the rest of the season now with Austin and Connor Taylor and a couple more guys. That’s where we are. “
After a bye week through the fourth July weekend for the EI league, the Swedes will host Arcola Riders (1-9) on Sunday 10 July. In his previous meeting with the Riders in Arcola, Paxton shared a double gig on June 12.
“We have to take care of business this time with them,” Prina said.
The Swedes meet the Dutchmasters (9-1) in Buckley on July 17 and host the Giants on July 24 before ending their regular season at Arcola on July 31.
“Hopefully we will be at full strength and all four matches will be as competitive as the other one was today, and then we will hopefully get some momentum and get warm when the tournament starts, and anything can happen.” in Prina. “It’s our game plan right now. We have guys showing up, which is great. We have more guys showing up every weekend than we’ve had in recent years. That’s what it takes to turn the corner and be consistently good again. “We’ll just keep running guys out there and see what happens.”
Game 1
Royal Giants 15, Paxton Swedes 4
PAX 002 020 – 4 5 3
ROY 043 413 – 15 13 0
W – Nolan Roseman, 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 7 K, 2 BB. L – Brett Giese, 3 IP, 5 H, 9 R, 2 K, 6 BB, 3 HBP.
Paxton – Noah Darr 2-3, BB. Austin Gomm 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI. Alex Barney 1-3, 2 RBI. William Van Duyne 1-1, 2 BB.
Royal – Dawson Magrini 2-4, 2 RBI. Cody Flowers 2-4, RBI. Blake Hoveln 1-3. Thomas Wolken 1-1, HR, 3 RBIs, 3 BB. Colton Carr 1-2, RBI, 2 HBP. Nate McFall 2-3, RBI. Brayden Weaver 3-4, RBI. Ryan Cheatham 1-2, 3B, 2 RBI.
Game 2
Royal Giants 4, Paxton Swedes 2
ROY 100 003 0 – 4 5 0
PAX 200 000 0 – 2 3 1
W – Keegan McCarty, 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 11 K, 2 BB. L – Zach Carr 5.2 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 7 K, 4 BB. S – Kobe Essien, IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, 0 BB.
Royal (8-2) – Dawson Magrini 2-2, 2 2B, BB. Cody Flowers RBI. Blake Hoveln RBI, 2 BB. Nate McFall 1-2. Cooper Hannagan 2-3.
Paxton (2-8) – Austin Gomm 1-2, HR, 2 RBI. Dalton Busboom 2-3, 2B.