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Explosive power: JHS beats Glenwood
Todd sizzles in Jacksonville’s 12-4 victory over Glenwood
It was Revenge of the Crimsons, Part Three Thursday afternoon at Chatham.
Still stinging from an 11-0 loss to the Titans on Tuesday, the Jacksonville High baseball squad bounced back yet again, thanks to a sizzling performance from junior Chaser Todd.
Todd pitched all seven innings, racking up nine strikeouts, and went 4-for-5 from the plate with two home runs and seven RBIs as Jacksonville handed Glenwood only its second loss of the 2008 season, 12-4.
“Chaser really exploded at the plate,” said JHS skipper P.J. Moore. “He saw the ball really well and took the ball where it was pitched. He went the opposite way with both of his homers.”
Earlier this season, the Crimsons (now 12-10 overall and 7-3 in the Central State Eight) avenged a 20-0 loss to Springfield with a 5-0 win over the same team. Then, in a doubleheader at Bethalto Civic Memorial two weeks ago, Jacksonville rebounded from an 11-1 game one loss to post a 15-0 rout in the second. Even the mighty Titans (17-2, 8-2 CS8) were not immune to the Crimsons’ vengeance. It was Jacksonville’s first win over Glenwood since 2002.
“This was the first time in six years that we’ve beaten Chatham at Jacksonville High,” said Moore. “This means something to our guys, because year in and year out, Chatham is the strongest team in our league.”
Early on, it looked like Thursday’s rematch would be more of the same from Tuesday for Jacksonville, as Glenwood staked pitcher Derek Waggoner to a 2-0 lead after the first two innings.
But this time it was the Crimsons who poured it on, scoring nine unanswered runs over the next four innings on their way to 15 total hits. It was the sort of performance Moore had expected on Tuesday, when his club barely scratched out two hits against Titans’ ace Trevor McGrath. Even in that, Moore could see signs that his team’s hitting would be fine.
“The score in the 11-0 game was misleading,” said Moore. “We knew it and stuck around for another half hour taking batting and infield practice (on Tuesday). We worked on getting our minds geared up to battle Glenwood again.”
A year ago, Todd pitched twice against Glenwood and lost both times — including the sectional playoff game. Moore believed those losses motivated Todd on Thursday.
“He came to play,” said Moore. “I think he was in a little bit of a redemption mode from last year, having picked up two losses against Glenwood last year. He came out and gave it everything he had and pitched a really tremendous game.”
The Titans scored four runs on only four hits — including a home run by Jake Ingold.
Caleb Howell, Quinton Miller, Todd and J.T. Rowe all had multi-hit games for Jacksonville. All four scored multiple runs, too. Also, A.J. Barnes smacked his first home run of the season, a long shot to center that gave Jacksonville a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth. The lead never switched hands after that.
“This is a very nice win for the Jacksonville program,” said Moore. “My kids are on an emotional high right now.”
Tuesday’s game could be a prelude to a second rematch with the Titans in the Glenwood Regional final, where the hosts got the top seed, followed by No. 2 Jacksonville, No. 3 Quincy Notre Dame and No. 4. Springfield Southeast.
Today, Jacksonville travels to Macomb to take on a very good Class 2A Bombers team that had 17 wins as of last week. First pitch at Phil Bradley Field is at 4:30 p.m.
