North Boone tries to make Big Northern baseball statement vs. 4-time league champ Dixon
Matt Trowbridge
This wasnôôֱt so much a game as a statement of who North Boone is as a baseball program.
And the answer ôôֱôôֱagain ôôֱ was both encouraging and frustrating. For four years, North Boone has been trying to crash the hierarchy of Big Northern baseball after being dormant for 20 years. The Vikings are now clearly contenders ôôֱ but just as clearly not the best in the league. Dixon took a huge step toward retaining that honor Tuesday by winning 6-5 at North Boone on a two-out, two-run bad-hop single in the final inning.
ôôֱWe played well,ôôֱ sophomore right fielder Grady Condon said. ôôֱWe just didnôôֱt quite get past them.ôôֱ
"The baseball gods," shortstop/reliever JJ Ford said, "weren't with us."
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Even after graduating its best player ever, North Boone (15-7, 6-4 BNC) seems on track to win 20 games for the first time in 30 years; it won 19 last year behind Chandler Alderman, now the top pitcher for NCAA Division I as a freshman.
But they couldnôôֱt slow Dixonôôֱs dominance of the conference. The Dukes (13-2, 9-0 BNC) were 5-19 in the league their first two years in the BNC but are 87-8 since with four straight league titles.
ôôֱDixon wins conference every year,ôôֱ Ford said. ôôֱI thought we had a very good chance of beating them this year. The outcome wasnôôֱt what we wanted, but it was a good next step for us. We can play with any team in the conference.ôôֱ
North Boone has shown that before. It split with Byron this year. The Vikings swept Stillman Valley. They beat Lutheran. They split with Rock Falls. Those are the four teams that dominated the Big Northern (and BNC West) for 20 years before Dixon ascended.
ôôֱThose are big wins,ôôֱ coach Drew Baden said. ôôֱWe know we can play with anybody. It would have been nice to get this one.ôôֱ
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Because this would have been North Booneôôֱs biggest statement win yet. Instead, only Byron (16-3-1, 8-1) now has a chance to catch Dixon in the conference.
North Boone could blame bad luck. Ford, who relieved Eli Lopez in the seventh, thought he had the game won when he got Ari Selmani to hit a hard grounder to shortstop, where Lopez had taken his place. Instead, the second hop bounced crazily at Lopezôôֱs head for a two-run single that put Dixon ahead 6-5.
ôôֱAs soon as I saw the ground ball off the bat, I thought: ôôֱgame.ôôֱ Eli is a great infielder. He was going to make the play,ôôֱ Ford said.
Lopez thought he had a second chance after reaching on a two-out infield single in the bottom of the seventh. But the game ended when Condonôôֱs long fly ball died in deep left field in the 25-mph winds and Tyler Shaner made a shoe-string catch and held onto the ball for the final out after crashing into the center fielder.ôôֱ
ôôֱI was rounding third and thought i was going to score,ôôֱ Lopez said. ôôֱGrady absolutely destroyed the ball, but the wind held it up there. Thatôôֱs how it goes sometimes. Itôôֱs baseball.ôôֱ
But the Vikings didnôôֱt blame bad luck. Or the wind. They blamed themselves for hitting the ball into the wind.
ôôֱYou know you have to take it to Dixon and today they hit the ball better than us,ôôֱ said third baseman Margarito Espain, who had two of North Booneôôֱs 12 hits. ôôֱWe had balls in play all day. We just couldnôôֱt get the ball on the floor. We skied it every time and they played the ball well in the wind.ôôֱ
In the Major Leagues, itôôֱs all about launch angles and hitting the ball in the air for power. With this wind and with a rough infield, Dixon simply had a better plate approach than North Boone.
ôôֱThe field was dry and a lot of balls were bouncy,ôôֱ Lopez said. ôôֱYou didnôôֱt know where they were going; it was like a knuckleball at the plate. They probably had five or six hits today that were ground balls that took bad bounces. You have to put the ball on the ground on days like today. We hit too many balls in the air and the wind held us back.ôôֱ
ôôֱAdjusting is part of everything,ôôֱ Espain said. ôôֱFields are always different. Conditions are different.ôôֱ
So sometimes you have to play different. That is the lesson North Boone still needs to learn to become a Big Northern champion.
ôôֱWe can play with anybody on a good day, especially when we are pitching well,ôôֱ Lopez said. ôôֱBut weôôֱve got to play like men. Sometimes we play like young boys. Weôôֱve got to play like men. Weôôֱve got to play hard all seven innings of the game. We canôôֱt take anything off. We have to go right at them.ôôֱ
Big Northern Baseball standings
School, BNC, All games
- Dixon, 9-0, 13-2
- Byron, 8-1 16-3-1
- North Boone, 6-4, 15-7
- Rock Falls, 4-3, 8-8
- Stillman Valley, 4-4, 12-9
- Lutheran, 4-4, 6-5
- Oregon, 4-6, 8-10
- Genoa-Kingston, 3-6 4-15
- Rockford Christian, 1-9, 3-13
- Winnebago, 0-6, 2-12
Tuesday's BNC results
Dixon 6, North Boone 5
Oregon 7, Winnebago 5
Byron 18, Genoa-Kingston 6
Rock Falls 16, Rockford Christian 1
Stillman Valley 17, Lutheran 2
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.