The Effingham Hearts finally showed a little life on offense in the nightcap Saturday, giving them a split in a doubleheader at Mt. Zion.

The Hearts collected eight hits, got a home run from Jackson Lee and scored in four innings, en route to a 6-1 victory that put an end to their seven-game losing skid.

In the opener, EHS managed just five hits and got blanked 2-0. It was the fourth time the Hearts have been shut out in their last seven games.

The Hearts got a pair of solid pitching performances. Lee gave up only four hits and two runs and struck out 12 in the first game, but just didn’t receive any run support.

In the nightcap, Brayden Pals pitched 5.2 innings of shutout baseball to get the win. Matthew Loy took care of the final 1.1 innings of work and gave up just one unearned run.

The Hearts took the lead in the opening inning of the second game. Quest Hull, who had four hits in the twin-bill, led off with a double and scored on a base hit by Lee.

In the third, Lee sent a pitch over the leftfield fence to increase the EHS lead to 2-0.

The Hearts then tacked on three more runs in the fourth. Preston Latch got things started with a double. Then with two outs, Hull ripped an RBI triple, followed by two walks to load the bases and a single by Jack Blickem to drive in two and make it 5-0.

Things looked promising in the first inning of the opener as well. Hull led off with a base hit, but was erased in a double play. Lee and Blickem then had back-to-back singles, but were left stranded.

Effingham had just two more hits over the final six innings – a third inning single by Hull and a base hit by Kalen Reardon in the seventh.

The Hearts actually loaded the bases with just one out in the seventh. In addition to Reardon’s hit, they also had two walks. But the final two batters struck out.

Mt. Zion bunched together three of their five hits in the sixth. Jonathan Oliger drove home the first run with a triple, followed by an RBI single off the bat of Jacob Bailey.

Oliger got the win for the Braves, going the first six innings. Ethan Hamrick relieved to start the seventh, but after the bases were loaded, Ryne Buttz came on to record the two strikeouts and earn the save.

The Hearts are now 11-8 overall and 3-2 in the Apollo Conference. They will have another conference contest Tuesday at Mahomet-Seymour.

The Effingham Hearts are just going through one of those stretches that almost every baseball team experiences at some point during a season.

Their offensive woes continued in the first game Saturday and then their pitching couldn’t make a nine-run lead stand up in the nightcap.

The disappointing result was being swept in a doubleheader at Mattoon – 4-1 in the opener and 14-13 in the second game.

The Hearts have dropped five straight and six of their last seven games after winning their first nine games of the spring season.

Things actually started on a good note in the first game. After being held to just 2 runs and 5 hits in three games – and 19 innings – against St. Anthony earlier in the week, EHS put together three hits in the opening inning against Mattoon.

Joe Matteson led things off with a base hit. With one out, Jackson Lee singled and then Gauge Massey drove Matteson home with an RBI single.

Unfortunately, the Hearts had only two hits the rest of the game – singles by Max Nelson in the fifth and Gabe Eaton in the sixth.

Mattoon took the lead with two runs in the second and added two more in the third on a two-run homer by Zach Wetzel.

And that’s all Meade Johnson needed. The righthander went 6.2 innings and allowed the one run on five hits, while walking two and striking out eight. He reached the 105-pitch limit, so Logan MacDonald came in to record the final out.

Read more ...

The Effingham Hearts’ struggles at the plate continued Friday afternoon.

The Hearts managed just three hits and were shutout for the third time in their last seven games, dropping a 5-0 decision to North Clay in Louisville.

Effingham opened the season with nine straight wins and were 10-1 at one time. During those 10 wins, the Hearts averaged 10 runs per game.

But it’s been a different story offensively since then.

EHS has dropped its last six games and has scored just 18 total runs over that span – and 13 of those came in one game.

The Hearts had just four base runners against North Clay – three singles and a hit batter. They were set down in order four times and had two runners reach base in the same inning just once. That was in the second when Jack Blickem singled and Dylan Cunningham was hit by a pitch. They also had base hits from Max Hardiek in the fourth and Christian Raddatz in the fifth.

The Cardinals score single tallies in the first and fifth and then tacked on three more in the sixth.

Kalen Reardon went the distance for the Hearts. He allowed eight hits and five runs, while walking one and striking out five. Carson Burkett got the win for North Clay. In seven innings of three-hit work, he didn’t walk a batter and struck out five while throwing just 75 pitches.

The Hearts dropped to 10-7 overall. They will return to Apollo Conference action today (Saturday) at Mt. Zion. They begin the day 3-1 in league play.

The Effingham Hearts banged out six hits, collected five walks and had four hit batters.

And that was just in the first inning.

They sent 18 batters to the plate and scored 13 runs, en route to a 17-2 Apollo Conference victory at home Tuesday over Taylorville.

With one out, Gauge Massey singled, Jackson Lee walked and Max Hardiek was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Christian Raddatz then blasted an 0-1 pitch over the leftfield fence for a grand slam and a quick 4-0 lead.

Before the inning was over, Dylan Cunningham had a pair of RBI singles, Max Nelson had a two-run single and three runs were forced home with two hit batters and a walk with the bases loaded.

EHS tacked on three more runs in the second and added a final tally in the fourth.

The Hearts finished with 11 hits, with Nelson and Cunningham both collecting three. Raddatz finished with five RBI.

Josh McDevitt was the starter and pitched the first two innings to get the win. He didn’t allow a base runner and struck out four. Raddatz and Nelson each pitched one inning.

The Hearts improved to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the Apollo Conference. They will now play St. Anthony in the annual City Series today (Wednesday), Thursday and Friday. They will host games today and Friday at Paul Smith Field and will play at Evergreen Hollow Park on Thursday. Game time each day is 7 p.m.