Wills dominates to lead Coalers to third regional title in four years

by shawn long Sports writer Abram Wills went the distance on the mound and added to his conference-leading strikeout total to guide the Coal City baseball team to its third regional title in four years in a 10-5 win over Manteno on Monday. Wills was dominant on the mound as Manteno hitters were getting a piece of the balls he threw but not all of them. Overall, he allowed three earned runs on nine hits while fanning 11 and walking two to earn the win. Wills is currently 8-0 with a 0.83 earned run average with 103 strikeouts. “It’s great working with Abram,” said Coal City catcher Ashton Harvey. “They were catching up to him and hitting him today but he knows how to battle through the adversity and our bats were hot. They’ve been hot and we just keep hitting the ball to back him up every game.” And his offense jumped on Manteno ace Audis Edwards to take a 3-0 lead. “Anytime you can jump up especially 3-0 in their ballpark, that’s huge,” said Coal City baseball coach Greg Wills. “Getting out early was giant and then Abram helps out with his three innings that were really strong. We add on, we go up 7-1 and you just knew they were going to make a run. That’s just a solid ballclub over there. It’s a good program and they’re well coached and they have good athletes over there so you knew at some point they were going to make a run at us. They get it to 7-5 and we didn’t panic. Abram made some pitches and we got out of it. We came back and tacked on to make it 10-5 and we took the wind out of their sails putting the kibosh on their run.If they go back out there 7-5, maybe it’s a different story but we go add on and we make it a 5-run game and that’s tough especially with Abram on the mound.” They held that lead for a while until the third when Manteno would answer with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. The Coalers matched them and pushed it out to a 4-1 lead. They added another three in the fourth to take a commanding 7-1 lead. A two-run double from Ashton Harvey highlighted another three-run inning for the Coalers. “It was pretty big,” commented Harvey. “I think we were tight at the time and I just broke it open again. I just go up to the plate and try to hit the ball, help the team out and move people over and get runs in. Every year we always click at the right time, everybody gets hot at the same time and we start to roll.” Manteno tried to make a run at the regional crown, plating four in the sixth but Wills slammed the door as he fanned the final two batters. “I just walked out there and talked to him,” commented Harvey. “It’s nothing too serious. He’s not a very serious person and I’m not either. We keep it chill and I just walk out and talk with him and calm him down a little bit. Nolan Berger (2-for-3), Braden Reilly (2-for-3, 3B, BB) and Harvey (1-for-3, 2B, BB, 2R) led the offense driving in two runs. Reilly also scored a run while Wills doubled to drive in another. Aydan Murphey and Brady Best also had multiple hits. Murphey walked and scored three times while Best also scored a run. Cade Baldauf, Riley Dehler and Braiden Young also scored a run. Next up for the Coalers is the first round of the Joliet Catholic Academy Sectional on Thursday against Chicago (Leo) who is coming off of a 6-4 win over Chicago Christian. “I don’t know a lot about them,” commented Wills. “We’ll get to work tonight and tear what their doing a part and see if we can find some things out from people who have played them and then we’ll run. Braden Reilly will go out there just like he has every day and give us what he’s got and if we can get past that, we’ll try to go Saturday and try to win the sectional but we’re just thrilled to be where we are now and get such a quality win over a quality team and take the regional title back to Coal City.” If they win that game, they’d play Saturday in the Sectional championship game against either Joliet Catholic Academy or Chicago (University). Coal City 9 Peotone 4 Reilly went the distance on the mound to help the Coalers get back to the regional championship game. Reilly wasn’t overly dominant as he gave up two earned runs on four hits while fanning three and walking two but he got the job done to help the Coalers get to their third regional championship game in four years. Coal City’s offense grabbed a 4-2 lead as they answered Peotone’s two-spot. They added another five runs and Reilly did the rest. Harvey powered out a home run to lead the Coalers as he drove in two run, walked and scored another. Derek Carlson triped and drove in two while Kaelan Natyshok also doubled and drove in two. Brady Best and Braden Reilly (2B) also drove in a run with a couple of hits. Murphey had three hits while Wills and Berger also had a hit. Wills and Carlson also drew a walk.