GROVE – Outplaying the Collinsville Cardinals in all phases, the Grove Ridgerunners took a big step toward determining their postseason destination with a doubleheader sweep on Friday at the Grove Sports Complex.
The pair of wins – 9-1 in the first game and 9-4 in the second – moved the Ridgerunners to 18-8 overall and, more importantly, to 7-0 in District 5A-3, where they remain tied with Claremore, the only other undefeated team in the district.
“It was a good day for us,” Grove head coach Bret Bouher said. “We got two district wins against a quality opponent. You can’t go wrong with that. Now we’ve got two big games with Claremore next week.”
In game one a gutty performance from starting pitcher Gibson Russ and a big fourth inning were enough for the win.
Russ picked up his fifth win on the mound this season despite issuing eight walks and hitting two batters, holding the Cardinals to just one hit while striking out 10.
“He didn’t have great command today,” Bouher said. “He walked more than we’d like, but he pitched himself out of some jams. He competed when he had to and got the outs we had to have.”
Russ stranded runners on first and third in the first inning then left the bases loaded in the second, allowing just one run.
The senior lefty also had a big day at the plate, tripling and scoring the Ridgerunners’ first run in the bottom of the first inning and later added a two-run double during the decisive fourth.
That fourth inning began innocently enough. With two outs, Jake Spychalski’s wind-blown fly ball to right field was dropped. Walks by Benny Steffenson and Ty Phillips loaded the bases and Ty Morrow and Kody Stephenson followed with run-scoring singles before Russ’s double capped the five-run frame.
“They opened the door for us and we had a big inning after they gave us the chance to score some runs,” Bouher.
Grove added three more runs in the fifth, getting RBI hits from Spychalski, Phillips and Morrow for the final margin.
Russ wriggled out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth before being relieved by Morrow, who got the final two outs of the game.
In game two Phillips did his best impersonation of Russ, getting the win on the mound while also picking up key hits to complete the sweep.
The Ridgerunners took the lead in the second inning when Benny Steffenson’s infield single scored Erick Ryan. Grove added three more in the fourth, including a two-run single by Phillips with the bases loaded that scored Ryan and Kaden Livermore. Russ was later hit by a pitch with the bases still loaded to make it 4-0.
Collinsville got one run back in the fifth then, after Russ picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the top of the inning, scored two more in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-3. Stephenson, coming on in relief of Phillips with two on and two out, got out of the inning with one pitch on a line drive to Russ.
Grove would then put the game away with four runs in the seventh. Ryan doubled to lead off the inning and was driven home by a Livermore single. Spychalski reached on an error and was driven in by Phillips’ double, later scoring on a single by Russ.
Stephenson left the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, giving up one run in finishing off the sweep.
“In the second game [Collinsville] started a guy that was pretty tough and we battled him and battled him and got some opportunities to score some runs,” Bouher said. “Ty Phillips had a big day in the second game and obviously he threw well also.”
Russ finished the day with five RBIs, while Phillips drove in four runs.
The Ridgerunners and Zebras will play at 4:30 Monday in Grove and will meet again at the same time Tuesday in Claremore.
