One catch made the difference in Mid-State battle between Martinsville, Decatur Central

The 2022 season has been a roller coaster for both Martinsville and Decatur Central's baseball teams.

The Artesians got off to a hot 7-3 start but are now battling to stay at .500. The Hawks, also fighting to remain or exceed the .500 mark, are a young squad, featuring four seniors, trying to find consistency on a game-by-game basis.

The roller coaster the two have been riding made its stop in Martinsville Tuesday. After the Hawks built a 5-0 advantage, Martinsville gave them a scare in the final two innings with four runs scored. However, Decatur Central prevailed, winning 6-4.

"Big time for us, we're a young team starting four freshmen and sophomores most games," Decatur Central coach Sean Winkelseth said. "Biggest thing for us is just looking for consistency. This past week and a half, four games in a row, (we had) consistent play, won three of those four games. So that's been our big step moving forward as a young program."

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The late game run served as a reflection point for Martinsville coach Adam Peterson and the Artesians.

"I told the guys, putting pressure on teams early is better than waiting until the end to decide to put a little bit of pressure on team's and score runs," Peterson said.

Key plays

The most important play came at the bottom of the sixth inning with Martinsville at bat. Kevin Reed had sent a ball over the scoreboard for a solo home run to give the Artesians their first score.

Martinsville followed it up with three hits to get on base as Westyn Pemberton sent Matt Decker home to make the score 5-2 and putting runners on second and third. Artesian Jaxton Proctor proceeded to send one to deep centerfield, one that looked like it might be unreachable.

But Decatur Central's Keelan Dyson made an incredible diving catch, nearly dropping the ball only to toss it back up to himself, landing perfectly in his glove. Had the ball hit the ground, Martinsville could have made it 5-4 or potentially tied it up.

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"That would have broke that inning over, I think we would have scored at least one or two runs if that ball gets past him," Peterson said.

Dyson, a senior, also scored an important run at the top of the fifth with two outs on the board. Sending a line drive to left field that would end with two runs scored for the Hawks.

"For Keelan, that catch and two-out RBI, two-run score, that's just big senior leadership from him," Winkelseth said. "As a guy that's played varsity ball for four years and as a leader for us offensively, defensively...We need those at bats for us out of the three-hole. We need that defense from him at center field. Those were two huge plays that definitely shifted the momentum for us today."

By the numbers

Martinsville and Decatur Central both hit the same number of balls at seven, but the Artesians could have saw that number drastically increase had it not been for a great defensive performance by the Hawks.

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The Artesians didn't have a problem connecting on pitches, they just couldn't get them to drop. When they did, the Hawks were on top of it. Martinsville only struck out three times the whole game. Of its outs, seven consisted of ground outs.

The Artesians also had three line outs, three fly outs and three pop outs.

"We hit some balls at people earlier in the game, and at the end there they didn't necessarily get hit right at guys," Peterson said. "I think that was one of the differences. We just started to swing the bats a little bit stronger towards the end of the game."

Unsung hero

Decatur Central freshman Zach Losito deserves a lot of praise for the difference he made on the defensive end.

The shortstop was like a magnet, the baseball continued to get batted in his direction and each time he'd wind up making the play. Losito was responsible for four put outs, adding a team-high four assists to that total.

"One of those freshman guys that's playing almost every day, learning as he goes" Winkelseth said. "He's defintiely not afraid to make a mistake. He plays the game hard and fast and today things happened."

What it means

For the Artesians (10-11, 5-6 MSC) the loss serves as the sixth straight, and the eighth in nine games. It's been tough going getting runs on the board lately. Perhaps the batting performance the team had at the end of the game will give them a boost moving forward.

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"That's the important thing, getting off this skid for the guys to give us some confidence here," Peterson said. "We just haven't scored a lot of runs lately...We've just got to get more consistent."

As for the Hawks (8-8, 5-5 MSC), the win is their fourth in six games, showing the young team might just be finding its way before sectionals begin.

Looking ahead

The two will face one another once again on Wednesday to further placement within the Mid-State Conference. Following that game, Decatur Central will get to enjoy a break until next week, playing Franklin Community on May 16. Martinsville will have a quick turnaround as it's set for a rivalry game with Bloomington South Thursday.

Contact reporter Devin Voss at dvoss@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @DevinVoss23.

This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Single catch makes difference in battle between Martinsville, Decatur Central