Chillicothe burns Hannibal in 5-2 loss

The Hannibal Cavemen were looking to get back on the winning track Thursday night against the Chillicothe Paints. Their wait continues.
Stellar pitching from the Paints’ pitcher was what did the Hannibal team in for a 5-2 loss, dropping its record to 7-16.
Cavemen general manager Jay Hemond said the cause of his team’s woes can be traced back to the mound.
“Their pitcher threw a heck of a ball game,” Hemond said.
But for all that Chillicothe starting pitcher A.J. Achter did, it was really his defense behind him that really hurt Hannibal. In the seven innings that Achter pitched, he only struck out four and gave up three hits, putting the ball right in the zone and relying mostly on pitch-to-contact situations. And the Paint had every reason to trust his defense. Every inning Acther pitched, he never faced more than four batters at a time.
Going up against Acther Thursday night was Ashley Graeter, who threw a four-hitter for a 1-0 win against Dubois County last week.
That sort of precision appeared to be back for the shortstop. For the first four innings, Graeter shut down Chillicothe, tossing eight of his eventual 10 strikeouts.
But walks proved to be what did Graeter in by the fifth inning. In the top of the inning, Graeter walked four of the first five batters he faced, letting the first of Chillicothe’s five runs come home without giving up a hit. When he finally did give up a hit, it resulted in another run.
From there on out, the bullpen took over pitching duties, with mixed results. Justin Lucas let another two unearned runs score. Meanwhile, Steve Godawa was able to stem the flow of hits coming from the Chillicothe dugout in the bottom of the ninth, while picking up a pair of Ks of his own.
Godawa was not the only Caveman to find second life in the ninth inning. Hannibal’s offense finally came alive in the final three outs of Thursday night’s contest. Graeter started the drive off with a walk, which was quickly followed by hits by Grant Dozar and Kyle Gaedele. With no outs, two runs scored and a pair of runners in scoring position, the Cavemen were poised to make a late inning comeback.
Dozar, who got just his second start since joining up with the Cavemen, turned on a little of the Omaha charm that helped his Louisiana State University Tigers win the National Championship. The freshman had the best night of any Caveman at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.
He said he thinks that he has settled into his position in the lineup, even though he may not be as familiar with his opponents as his teammates might be.
“Personally, I think it is easier to play against people you don’t know because you don’t have any expectations for them,” Dozar said. “You’ve never seen a pitcher that you face up here. All you have is your gameplan.”
But just as quickly as the offense started for the ’Men, it was stymied by a 6-4-5 double play.
“That was a fluky play for a double play,” Hemond said. “With a base hit, we thought we’d score a couple and have the tying run on base. Things were going our way, but that was a strange play.”
Hemond said that, despite dropping two in a row, he still thinks that the three game streak from earlier in the week is still fresh enough that it can be used as a rallying cry for his team to get back on track.
“The cause-and-effect was definitely there,” Hemond said. “We just need to make sure that when we are out there playing, we are thinking ahead so that those sort of plays don’t catch us by surprise.”
The Cavemen will try to get back to their winning ways tonight when they take on the Dupage Dragons at home. Start time for the game will be a half hour earlier than normal, with the first pitch at 6:05 p.m. at Clemens Field.