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Johnathon Stunkel throws a gem, Putnam County uses small ball in win over Mendota · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Jonathan Stunkel throws a gem, Putnam County uses small ball
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  and win over Mendota. Written by Kevin Chlum, this article
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  is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  by Everlet. As the innings kept passing without the Mendota
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  baseball team getting a runner on base, Putnam County senior
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  Jonathan Stunkel admitted he was feeling the pressure a little bit.
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  The Panther ace had a perfect game through six innings
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  before an error and a hit to start the seventh
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  ended it. I think somebody in the dugout mentioned it
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  and that might have been what happened at the end.
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  But that's all right, Stunkle joked. Stunkel quickly shook off
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  the loss of his perfect game and no hitter on
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  back to back batters to induce three straight groundouts to
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  cap off a one hit shutout in a three zero
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  non conference victory over Mendoda on Senior Night Friday in Granville.
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  I just had to get it back into it and throw,
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  Stunkel said about keeping Mendota off the board. Following the
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  base runners, Stunkel made it tough for the Trojans all
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  game as he struck out ten batters and did not
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  walk any. The curveball definitely helped me a lot today,
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  Stunkel said, my curveball is probably my best pitch. I
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  was able to pump the zone with it, definitely starting ahead,
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  and counts helped for sure. Stunkel only allowed two balls
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  to be hit out of the infield. Mendoda leadoff hitter
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  Quinn Eddie hit a pop up to shallow left field
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  that shortstop Maddox Pool made a diving catch on in
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  the fourth, and Eston Otero hit a hard ground ball
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  through the left side for Mendota's only hit. We knew
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  we were going to be in the game with Jonathan throwing.
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  PC coach Chris Newsom said he always gives us a shot.
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  Jonathan did a heck of a job. He set the tone.
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  He didn't give any free passes, and that's no one
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  is making them earn it. We've been guilty of letting
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  guys on for free. It's really been a key point.
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  We're trying to hammer home and then play clean behind him,
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  and for the most part, we did that. While Stunkel
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  was dominant, Otaro was strong for the Trojans as well.
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  Otero started with three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit
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  over that stretch while striking out four, including the side
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  in the third. Otero through five innings, giving up three runs,
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  two earned on four hits, with six strikeouts and no walks.
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  That was quite a pitcher's duel. Mendota coach Jim Eustace said,
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  we didn't have a base runner until the seventh inning.
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  What a way for Stunkel to have a senior night here.
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  I'm glad he didn't get a perfect game, but he
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  really threw a heck of a game, and they played
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  great defense behind him. I thought Eston pitched fantastic. Our
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  defense was very good. We had a couple we just
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  couldn't get to in the outfield. After not doing much
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  offensively the first time through the order, the Panthers turned
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  to small ball in the fourth to get on the board.
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  Stunkel led off with a double to left center field
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  and went to third on an errant throw into the infield.
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  Poole put down a squeeze bunt to score Stunkle for
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  the game's first run. To start the fifth, carter Hawkstadder
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  worked a full count, fouling off four pitches in the
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  process before hitting a double into right field. Hook Statter
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  moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when
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  Jacob Furr laid down a squeeze bunt. The Panthers added
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  a run on an RBI triple by Traxton Mattingly. Once
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  we saw we weren't necessarily knocking the ball around like crazy,
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  we started going to small ball and it worked for us.
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  Newsom said, it's something we practice a lot. We know
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  we're not an all star offensive team one through nine.
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  We have some guys who can swing it, and some
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  guys are hotter than others. During the season. You just
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  kind of ride that roller coaster. But at any point
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  we could bunt one through nine. We'll play small ball
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  if we have to. You just have to adjust to
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  your personnel and who's hot and who's not. The Panthers improved,
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  moved to fifteen nine. We have plenty of room to improve,
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  and that's what we're going to do, so Newsom said,
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  We're going to keep trying to get better. You always
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  want more as a player and as a coach. That's
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  what drives a lot of these guys is just showing
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  up every single day trying to improve. Hopefully, the third
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  week of May things are rocking and rolling, and you
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  can win a few in a row. The Trojans fell
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  to ten ten in Eustace's first season as head coach.
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  Mendota is ahead of last year, as the Trojans finished
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  nine to eighteen to one in twenty twenty five. We've
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  improved a ton Eustace said. We got win number ten Thursday,
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  which was important to us. We've won four conference games
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  after one last season. We have two weeks left now
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  to build up to the postseason. We have a pretty
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  good pitching corps, we played pretty good defense, and our
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  hitting has been pretty good overall this year. I think
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  we can compete with just about anybody, and we proved
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  that tonight.