Demons race past Grayhounds

Achilles was a hero of the Trojan War, but he did have a weakness.

One weakness of baseball teams that coaches dread are errors.

In a nonconference game that was a preview of a future Southeast Conference contest, Washington High School downed the visitors from Burlington 7-4 Tuesday.

Burlington's Brock Dengler had a one-hitter through the first three innings, but trailed 4-0 because of two hit batters, three errors and two passed balls.

'Errors have been our Achilles' heel all year,” Burlington head coach Brock Schneden said. 'You can't give a team like Washington extra outs when they have the ability to put pressure on you like they do. They steal bags, they are aggressive, they put together good at-bats and on top of that, they pitch well. We can't make these mistakes and expect to be successful.”

Starting Demons pitcher Cade Hennigan went through the BHS lineup in the first four innings with two hits and a walk allowed, but three strikeouts and saw his defense erase one hit with a double play.

'I have a great defense behind me so that sure makes it easy,” Hennigan said. 'It was important for me to go deep in the game to keep our arms fresh for the playoffs.”

The Grayhounds' No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9 hitters started the fifth inning with three consecutive hits and a fielder's choice at the top of the order put two runs up. The inning ended when Washington catcher Brady Knutson threw out an attempted steal of third.

'I can't fault Taylor (Bunton) for going and getting thrown out,” Schneden said. 'We want our guys to be aggressive.”

Over the last two games, Knutson has thrown three runners out and those are potential runs.

'His arm defensively from his catcher position is outstanding,” WHS coach Nathan Miller said. 'In between innings, he throws a missile down as a warning to teams not to run. He does great things for us behind the dish.”

'We are trying to be as tough as we can one through nine in the order, so it was good to see the bottom of the order produce some hits for us,” Schneden said. 'In reality, we could've made it a 2-2 game at that point instead of being down 6-2 if you wipe out the four runs that they got on errors.”

The hitting order changed for Washington from previous games.

'We just felt like leadoff wasn't Brady's natural position in the batting order so we put Brant (Stout) back up at the top,” Miller said. 'I thought Brady was a lot more comfortable lower in the order where he has been for most of the year.”

They both got hits in their new yet old positions so it was a productive night for them.

Knutson was 2 for 3 with two runs batted in and Stout was 1 for 4.

The Demons scored their first run when Knutson put the ball in play and two more when Mitchell Driscoll did the same thing. Hennigan reached on an error to start the third inning, stole second base, was sacrificed to third on a fly out and scored on a passed ball. It was the second consecutive game he scored without a hit.

'You have to put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense to allow yourself to make plays,” Hennigan said. 'Sometimes that is what will get you around the bases. Putting the ball in play is going to do a lot more for you than not. Our hitting the last two nights has been kind of rough, but our defense has been there for us. It has been incredible. Brady is doing such a great job behind the plate of getting outs for us.”

Eighth-grader Ethan Patterson started the bottom of the fourth inning with a double and scored on knutson's hit. Knutson stole second was sacrificed to third and scored on a wild pitch.

Mitchell Driscoll reached base with one out in the Demons sixth inning, reached third on Stout's single and scored on Luker Turner's sacrifice fly.

'Hitting-wise we need to get things back to where we were a week ago,” Miller said. 'We are hungry in the box but our timing is off. The second thing is confidence. Timing and confidence are the two big things to have success at the plate.”

Jacob Hardy relieved Dengler in the fifth inning and gave up two hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

'The way we have hit the ball all season, I trust that more than the small sample size from the last two games,” Hennigan said. 'The way we are playing defensively is going to win us some games in the postseason.”

Patterson relieved Hennigan with an out in the fifth inning. He gave up a hit in the sixth but got a K for the third out. Knutson came in for the seventh but loaded the bases with three walks. Driscoll came in and walked home a run, bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs. A pop up to Driscoll was the first out and an RBI-sacrifice fly was the second out. Driscoll struck out the third out.

Burlington is 16-18 and plays at Iowa City High (24-15) to start its postseason.

'At least we battled back, chipped away and gave ourselves a chance with the tying run at the plate there in the last inning,” Schneden said. 'It's that time of year and all of our slates are wiped clean. We'll go to work the next couple days and see what we can do.”

Washington is 21-8 and hosts Mt. Vernon (18-14) Friday to start its postseason.

'We will get our hitting back over the next two days,” Miller said. 'We will be working on some things. Everybody is 0-0 starting Friday. Whatever stats anybody had during the regular season don't matter. The postseason is about just absolutely finding a way to win.”