Prep Baseball Report

No. 6 Alleman sweeps away Rock Island



By Drake Skleba
Senior Writer

ROCK ISLAND - No. 6-ranked Rock Island Alleman (12-0; 4-0) swept away its rivals from Rock Island (8-5; 1-3) in a Western Big Six twin-bill at Alleman on Saturday. The Pioneers’ pitching dominated all day long, yielding five hits in two games. University of Illinois-bound right-hander Cody Sedlock fired a four-hitter in the Pioneers’ 11-1 game one victory, in five innings. Pioneer senior left-handed pitcher Tanner Ledezma fired a one-hitter in the 6-1 game two victory.

Game One: Alleman 11, Rock Island 1

The Pioneers scored 10 times in the second inning to put this one away early. Sixteen Pioneers came to the plate. Six hit safely, four reached on Rock Island errors and another was hit with the bases loaded. Two scored on one wild pitch. All 10 runs were unearned against hard-luck Rock starting left-handed pitcher Michael Peters (2-2).

Sedlock (3-0), who’s one of the top 2013 prospects in Illinois, struck out six and the run he allowed was unearned. Sedlock had an RBI double in the 10-run second and led off the bottom of the 5th with an infield single. His courtesy runner junior Brandon Sheraden promptly stole second and then scored the game winner, initiating the 10-run rule on a walk-off double from senior Dan Cutkomp.

“I pitched well today for us and had a good day at the plate,” said Sedlock. “The team is really playing great baseball now.”

Ledezma had a two-RBI single and junior Kevin O’Keefe also singled home a run in the Pioneer 10-run second inning.

“It was a good win for us to give us momentum heading into game two,” said Ledezma. “I had a good day at the plate but it should have been better.”

Rock Island was led by junior catcher Cullen George, who singled home the lone run in the third.

Game Two – Alleman 6, Rock Island 1

In game two, the Pioneers struck first in the third inning on a booming RBI triple from Pioneer leadoff man Connor Whan. Senior Sam Lootens drove home a pair with a one- out double in the fourth.

“I did what I had to do to help the team out,” said Lootens. “Tanner pitched a great game for us and we are all doing the things we have to do to win.”

Ledezma lost his no-no and shutout on the only mistake he would make, when George took him deep over the left-field fence. For George it was his second dinger of the season.

“I was hitting my spots early and I had a solid performance today,” said Ledezma.” Were really in the drivers-seat as far as conference goes and it’s been a great way to start the season.”

Alleman scored three more unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to put this one away. Lootens drove his third RBI with a sac-fly, on which he reached base when the Rock centerfielder dropped the ball. O’ Keefe ripped his second hit of the game driving home the sixth Pioneer run of the game. The hard-hitting junior was 3-for-6 on the day with two RBI. On the season O’ Keefe is 16-for-29, .552 with 15 RBI.

“In our game one win we really took advantage of Rock Island’s mistakes. Cody had one bad inning and that was after he had to sit during our 40-minute second inning,” said Rock Island head coach Chris Lemon. “In game two, Tanner was magnificent on the mound for us. Compliments go out to George, for going down and hitting a good pitch from Tanner. The sweep today was huge for us. We have a chance to be a very good team this season.”

IL Top Prospect Slide 6-13-13