Tempers flared at Workman Family Baseball field this weekend as Millikin ran away with the first game of a doubleheader fueled by a ten run fifth inning.
Caleb Buehrle dominated per usual, allowing zero runs on seven innings pitched while striking out six. He credits the defense and a catcher who did not find out he would be behind the plate until right before the first game, Hayden Stork, for his success on Saturday.
“Shoutout my defense,” Buehrle said. “Shoutout Hayden Stork. That guy came in and battled his tail off even after taking one off of the knee. It just makes my job a lot easier as a pitcher.”
However, the team is not looking past the next game, as they realize that the last few games before conference are extremely important.
“It’s the same old story,” Buehrle said. “We still have time left. We still have a few games left, and obviously a couple wins here would be huge today, but we still have games to finish. We still have jobs to do.”
During the fifth inning, he was forced to get creative to stay loose in the dugout. The bottom half of the fifth inning lasted around half an hour, as Millikin kept the line moving.
“I pretty much had a 30-minute workout during that inning,” Buehrle said. “I was pretty much playing pepper by the end of it.”
Buehrle’s teammate, senior infielder Tommy Shaw, played a large role in ensuring that Wesleyan would not have a chance to make a comeback. After breaking Millikin’s record for base hits in a career, Shaw followed that accomplishment up with three hits during the first game.
“The hit record means a lot to me,” he said. “There’s been a lot of sweat involved, a lot of work. I want to thank my teammates as well, because they come out here and push me every single day.”
Shaw recognized that days like this are always a little bit sweeter against rival Illinois Wesleyan.
“It’s always a little better when we get wins against the ‘green guys’,” he said.
Shaw also understands the message that these wins against top teams in the conference send to the other teams as well.
“You’ve got to come through us,” he said. “We’re not afraid of anybody. You have to come play our game and beat us.”
Millikin will look to sweep the season series this afternoon, with the game set to start at 3:00 p.m.
