MONMOUTH — The conditions for Monday’s MVC baseball showdown between Lisbon and Monmouth were summer. The level of play at crucial times, well, decidedly spring training.
Monmouth prevailed 6-5 in eight innings at Chick Field in a walk-off situation that you might never see again, but a fitting footnote to this one.
Previously undefeated Lisbon dropped the third strike against Jariah Caissie that would have sent it to the ninth, then overthrew first base, allowing Avery Pomerleau to score.
Pomerleau reached on an error, too. Lisbon (3-1) finished with 10.
“That’s all you’ve got to say,” Lisbon coach Randy Ridley said. “Bottom line, 10 errors. That’s it. We didn’t make plays. We did not support our pitcher today, and we lost because of it.”
The Greyhounds took advantage of a passed ball and two Mustang miscues to score twice and pull even in the sixth.
Monmouth (4-1) put two Lisbon runners aboard in the extra frame with its fourth and fifth errors, but sophomore reliever Hunter Richardson escaped by coaxing a pop-up to Caissie at third base and a comebacker to the mound.
Richardson is 3-0 out of the bullpen, all one-run victories for a team that had to replace 10 seniors.
“It’s not something I was expecting,” Richardson said, “but I have confidence in them.”
Lisbon ace Kyle Bourget didn’t allow an earned run. Two of his three walks were intentional, including a pass to Richardson that brought up Caissie in the eighth.
Bourget struck out 13, seven from the sixth inning on, and threw 136 pitches.
“He was getting stronger,” Ridley said. “I did not want to use him in the eighth but he said, ‘I’ve got more.’ We just didn’t make the plays we should have.”
It was business for usual early for Lisbon, which jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the second. Windblown doubles by Tyler Halls and Noah Francis and RBI singles by Nick Lerette and Ryley Austin inflicted the damage.
Monmouth bounced back with two runs in the third and three in the fourth.
“Especially later in games, we’ve been down by quite a bit and managed to come back, so we weren’t too worried,” Richardson said.
Three Lisbon bobbles and Richardson’s infield single fueled the third inning. In the fourth, Gage Cote’s single to right pulled the Mustangs even, and Caissie’s crack to center plated two more.
The Mustangs left nine on base through the first five innings.
“We did find a way to win another one,” Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi said. “That’s not Randy’s team. We know that. We got away with one. We’re going to take it and we’re going to run.”
Tyler Halls led off the Lisbon sixth with a single. He stole second, took third on a pitch in dirt and scored on a throwing error.
A dropped fly ball extended the inning, leading to Austin’s tying single.
“They made mistakes. We made mistakes,” Ridley said. “We just couldn’t get the job done. Too many physical mistakes. If this team wants to make it to the next level, we can’t have that.”
There were defensive highlights. Prior to the meltdown, Lisbon turned a double play and Bourget slammed the door with a strikeout to squirm free from a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first. Monmouth returned the favor with a 5-4-3 twist to end the Lisbon fifth.
Bourget, Halls, Austin and Francis delivered two hits apiece for the Greyhounds. Cote, Richardson and Nick Sanborn were the Mustangs’ repeat offenders.
Monmouth notched all nine of its hits against Bourget by the fifth inning.
“Kyle got better,” Palleschi said. “He’s thrown in the offseason. You can tell he’s conditioned. He didn’t want to come off the mound. It would take an act of Congress to get him off the mound.”
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