Carrollton, Brussels get to play in confines of professional baseball stadium

It’s not every day that you get to play in a professional baseball stadium in high school baseball, let alone at all.

“It’s a lot of fun because none of us will probably be any closer to playing pro ball than what we were tonight,” Carrollton coach Greg Pohlman said.

The Hawks defeated Brussels 14-0 Monday night at GCS Ballpark, home of the Gateway Grizzlies Frontier League baseball team.

“We always play Brussels; they do a good job and we had fun with it,” Pohlman said. “We came out and hit tonight.”

Carrollton was coming off of a two-game losing skid, having lost to Hardin-Calhoun last week. Pohlman was pleased about the offensive production as it has reached a new season high.

“We haven’t hit like that all year and hopefully it stays up,” Pohlman said.

Carrollton swatted 13 hits, stole nine bases, and scored in every inning. The hitting parade started when Luke Palan drove in Jerrett Smith with a RBI triple. Palan then scored on a sacrifice fly by Cole Brannan. Jacob Smith reached second base on an error, then scored on the same play after another Raider error.

The Hawks led 3-0 after the first inning and cruised from there, scoring a run in the second, two runs each in the third and fourth, five times in the fifth and one more in the sixth.

Throughout that time, Pohlman unloaded his bench and every player on the roster got at least an at-bat plus playing time in the field.

“That’s what this is all about,” Pohlman said. “The kids sell the tickets, the parents help them and it’s a good opportunity to play and I’m trying to make sure everybody gets equal amount of at-bats and equal amount of field time.

“We are here to win, but if we don’t win, we’re not going to worry about it because it’s a fun outing.”

Jacob Smith went 2-for-2 with three RBIs. Jerrett Smith went 3-for-3 with a double, and Jacob Lovel and Logan Gardner each went 2-for-2 as did Logan Gardner.

Gardner took the hill to start the game and struck out one hitter, gave up no runs and hits and picked up the win, pitching one inning as Pohlman sent seven Hawks to the mound.

“All of our pitchers pitched and they all pitched pretty well,” Pohlman said. “We’ve been on a layoff since Thursday because of the prom and some of them needed to rest their arms.

“They came out and threw the ball hard tonight. I hope it carries on the rest of the week.”

After Gardner, Jacob Smith, Brannan, Blake Struble, Nate Shanks, Kolton Bottom and and Ben DeWitt came in and combined for 16 strikeouts, no walks, three hits and no runs allowed. Brannan, Struble and Bottom struck out the sides when they were on the mound.

Carrollton improved to 11-7-1, while Brussels fell to 3-14 for the season.

The Hawks' week has only just begun as they have five more games this week, They played Jacksonville Routt Catholic Tuesday at home; they travel to Pleasant Hill for a 4:30 p.m. Wednesday game, then play Civic Memorial at 4:30 p.m. Thursday before playing at Springfield Lutheran in an 11 a.m. Saturday doubleheader.

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