ADEL — Zach Roberts drove in all three runs and Will Whiton earned his 20th career victory in eight innings on the mound as Perry claimed a 3-1 win over ADM in Raccoon River Conference play Wednesday.
The two battery-mate seniors were clutch when it mattered most, with Whiton scattering five hits and a walk while striking out nine while Roberts came through with a bouncing base hit back up the middle to plate two runs in the top of the eight inning.
Perry (11-5, 4-2) had defeated ADM, 3-2, at Progressive Field June 5 when Janier Puente belted a two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh to stun the Tigers. This time it was Roberts who delivered heartbreak to the Tigers, who had received a pitching performance from Ethan Herron, who was every bit as impressive as Whiton on the bump.
Herron yielded two runs on three hits and two walks in 7-1/3 frames. He walked Puente to open the eighth, and after a strikeout walked Whiton. Jake Sloss came on in relief and hit Nic Wilhelmi with a pitch to load the bases.
Sloss caught pinch-runner Caleb Olejniczak in a run-down off third for the second out of the inning, with Whiton moving to third and Wilhelmi to second on the play.
Rather than walk Roberts, ADM (6-9, 1-5) decided to pitch to the Bluejay No. 3 hitter, who sent an 0-2 offering on a seeing-eye bouncing path back up the middle of the infield and into center field, scoring both runners easily.
Whiton was dominant down the stretch from the rubber. He struck out the side in the ADM seventh, then fanned the first two batters he faced in the eighth before Colin Gavin reached on an infield single. Whiton then induced a ground out to end the contest.
Perry had scored in the fourth when Whiton doubled and moved up a base when Wilhelmi reached safely on an error while laying down a sacrifice bunt. He scored from there when Roberts grounded out.
ADM answered in their half of the fourth when Sloss singled. He was sacrificed to second, then scored when Whiton fielded a bunt but threw high to Adan Medina at third base in an attempt to nail Sloss, who scampered home to score easily as the throw rolled down the left field line. A sacrifice put a runner on third, but a ground out limited the damage.
Roberts had two hits and Puente one to go with Whiton’s single, with Logan Lemke hitting two singles for ADM while Gavin, Sloss and Sam Kornstad also provided hits for the hosts.
Perry hosts Saydel tonight and will then host the annual Bluejay Tournament Saturday.
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PERRY 3, ADM 1 (8)
at Adel, June 17
Team R H E
PRY 000 100 02 — 3 4 2
ADM 000 100 00 — 1 5 2
PRY: Whiton and Robets. ADM: Herron (7.1), Sloss (.2) and McCartney. WP: Whiton. LP: Herron. 2B — PRY: Whiton. LOB — PRY: 4; ADM: 7.
