Wilmont will have a chance to clinch a trip to state at home Sunday, as the Cardinals defeated the Jackson Bulls 10-7 Friday night at Wacker Field to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five amateur regional baseball playoff series.
Aaron Johnson earned the victory on the mound for the Cardinals, giving up four runs on four hits -- striking out five and walking four in six innings. Cole Johnson picked up the save, hurling the final 2 1/3 innings.
Tyler Sander, a Spencer draftee, suffered the loss for the Bulls -- giving up seven runs on six hits, striking out four and walking seven in 2 2/3 innings.
Josh Noble had the hot bat for the Cardinals in the early innings, as the second baseman singled in a run in the first for a 1-0 Wilmont lead. Noble then singled in the Cardinals' third run of the game on a single to left in the second inning.
"We faced this guy earlier in the year," Noble said. "I was just trying to get some wood on the ball and it worked out well."
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The 3-0 lead held up until the bottom of the second when the Bulls manufactured a pair of runs on one hit.
But the Cardinals fired back in the top of the third, scoring four runs to take a 7-2 lead. A lead-off walk issued to Nick Raymo started the rally.
A pair of strike outs from Sander gave the Bulls hope of getting out of the inning unscathed. But the lefty gave up a single to Aaron Johnson and then walked Sam Baumgartner and Cole Johnson, the later scoring Raymo for a 4-2 Wilmont advantage.
Noble then reached on an error at short, scoring Aaron Johnson for a 5-2 lead with Jessie Schwartzer stepping to the plate. The powerful first baseman pummeled a 1-2 pitch down the first-base line for a two-run double giving the Cardinals a commanding 7-2 lead.
The Cardinals scored one run in each of the next three innings to take a 10-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh when the Bulls started to climb back into it.
"It turned out to be another wild one," Wilmont player/coach Jeff Appel said. "It's always a tight game with Jackson."
With Aaron Johnson struggling to find the strike zone, Jackson made the most of its opportunities -- scoring five runs on two hits. The first two runs were brought home on singles by Adam Schmidt and Kip Wachal, while the others scored on errors or were walked in by reliever Luke Schneider -- who replaced Aaron Johnson.
Cole Johnson came into the game with two outs and got Wade Wacker to fly out to right to end the threat. The right hander then shut down the Bulls in the final two frames to secure a 2-0 lead for the Cardinals as they head back to Wilmont in hopes of finishing the series in the minimum three games.
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Jackson used five pitchers in the game, compared to three for the Cardinals -- including Cole Johnson, who usually comes into games in relief. Wilmont has seen both of the Spencer draftees, Ryan Dupic and Sander, who were picked up by the Bulls to bolster their rotation.
Unfortunately for Jackson, both hurlers lost their starts. Now, Jackson will have to pull a rabbit out of its hat if the team is going to make a series of it heading back to Wilmont on Sunday.
"We're confident. A lot of wins come out of that place," Appel said in reference to Wilmont's Butts Probst Field. "Our pitching staff should be well rested and ready to go -- we'd like to finish this series as soon as possible."
R H E
Wilm. 124 011 100 -- 10 13 2
Jack. 020 000 500 -- 7 6 2
