BISMARCK — For over the last two seasons, the Westville baseball team has come out and defeated every Vermilion Valley Conference team that was in front of it.
But in Thursday’s game, Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin had other ideas, breaking out with three runs in the third and two in the fourth to get the 8-4 win over the Tigers.
“We won 25 conference games in a row. We were undefeated the last two years and it stings,” Westville coach Joe Brazas said. “We fell apart. We hate games like this. They are a good team and their pitcher did a great job and their defense played well and I will give it to them. But communication were not there for us in pop flies and foul balls. We were not ready.”
“Our kids did a good job grinding out an attack against a good pitcher. We haven’t always done that this season and I was very happy with that,” BHRA coach Mark Dodd said. “We got deep in the counts and didn’t always get hits but we made him have to work and got his pitch county up.”
The first couple of innings seemed to be reminiscent of the close games the two teams had last year. Easton Barney scored in the top of the first when BHRA starter Jaxon Spicer hit first baseman Reed Zarate with the throw on a grounder by Gavin Long, while Cruz Dubois led off BHRA’s part of the first with a home run off Westville starter Matt Darling.
An error to start the second was key as Barney singled in Christian Giles to get a 2-1 lead, but the third inning is where things would change.
With two outs and Cruz Dubois on first, Landen Packard was hit by a pitch before Dayton Dubois had an RBI single and then Drew Dubois brought in two runners with a single for an 4-2 lead.
“Landen Packard getting on base four times was key in the middle of the order and Cruz Dubois is a special player,” Dodd said. “They (Dayton and Drew) are his freshman cousins. Cruz is leading the way and they are talented kids. I hadn’t really played freshmen in my lineup over the years, but these two are solid at the plate.”
The bottom of the fourth saw Chaz Dubois bring in Liam Parish with a single and would later score on an Westville error for a 6-2 lead.
Giles would drive in Long in the sixth to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 6-3, but BHRA would add two more runs on a sacrifice fly by Dayton Dubois and an RBI single by Mason Brines.
Spicer would end up five strikeouts in six innings to get the win.
“Jaxon Spicer was a stud on the mound today. He’s a great baseball player but has never been in a situation like this. So for him to get six solid innings against the Westville lineup was really remarkable,” Dodd said. “Jaxon had a tough night against West Vigor and tonight he delivers a great performance. Baseball humbles everyone at anytime and he was able to get it back and I was proud of that.”
Cruz Dubois, Drew Dubois and Dayton Dubois each had two RBI, while Brines had one. Barney had three hits and an RBI while Giles and Long each had an RBI. Darling took the loss and had six strikeouts in four innings.
Even with their third win in four games and a 7-4 record, Dodd said the team is still learning.
“They are learning and getting hard lessons as we go because I am not letting them off easy,” Dodd said. “We are a work in progress. Last night, we fell over ourselves and today we played a pretty, solid clean game and it may be that way until the end of the season where maybe all of the lessons will be learned. We are still working on getting better everyday and I was proud of them because this was a very good Westville team we beat today.”
The Tigers are 9-9 after losing their second straight game.
“Anytime we play Bismarck it is going to be a fight and maybe we were too tight and we had to loosen up a bit,” Brazas said. “Hopefully now, they can get a loss and we can win out and that’s all we can hope for.”
The Tigers play today as they travel to LeRoy and hope to avoid a third straight loss.
“They have a great program there and our JV team were handled by them last season because they were do good at hitting the ball., It is going to be a fight and I hope a new team will come out. I told the guys to figure things out and find where we are at to move on, You have to have a bad memory in baseball and you talk to them and forget about because you have another game tomorrow or the next day.”
The Blue Devils, who will play Champaign Centennial today, dedicated a special plaque before the game to later assistant coach Mike Stephens.
“He helped me on the varsity for three years and he passed away suddenly last year. His wife, Mendy Stephens, is a guidance counselor here,”: Dodd said. “So we put a plaque today in honor of him. He was well-respected and was a good man.”