Garrett Shiveley was the hero in the Peebles 8-7 win over Eastern Brown, coming up clutch with a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning. (Photo by Rebecca Shiveley)
Late rally sends Peebles to 2-0
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The 2023 season couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start for Coach Kenny Dick and his Peebles Indians. After easily disposing of Western Latham 12-0 on Monday, things got a little more exciting the following day in the Indians’ Southern Hills Athletic Conference opener. Coach Dick and his squad hosted the Eastern Warriors and gave their fans a night to remember, rallying from an early 5-1 deficit to pull off a dramatic 8-7 walk-off victory.
With right hander Ethan Beekman getting the starting nod for the Tribe, the Warriors broke away early, scoring a run in the first and four in the second, all of them unearned. The Indians got one of those back in their half of the first on a two-out triple by Zane Porter that drove home Mason Sims who had drawn a walk.
The score remained 5-1 Eastern until the Peebles half of the fifth when the home team struck for three runs. Keltin Robisnon led off with a base hit and moved to third on a base hit by Garrett Shiveley. A Bradley Shoemaker single to left scored Robinson and a base hit by Cory Reed brought Shiveley across. Gage Grooms singled to center to drive home Shoemaker and cut the Eastern lead to 5-4.
In the top of the sixth with Beekman still battling on the mound, the Warriors added a pair of runs to their lead, but Peebles responded with two in their half of the sixth, getting an RBI ground out from Reed and a run-scoring base hit from Grooms to make it 7-6 Warriors and setting up the dramatic next at-bat for the home team.
In the bottom of the seventh with reliever Bryce Murphy on the hill for Eastern, Porter was plunked by a pitch to lead off the frame. Beekman singled to right but was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double with Porter moving around to third. Evan Day struck out looking and the Indians were down to their last out with the tying run still standing at third, but a wild pitch brought Porter home with the tying run.
Robinson drew a two-out walk and then the game came to its exciting conclusion when Shiveley drove a two-base hit to center that sent Robinson scurrying home and sent the home team into celebration mode.
Beekman toughed it out and ended up throwing a complete game for the win, striking out six Warriors along the way. Beside the game-winner, Shiveley went 2 for 4 and scored twice, while Grooms also was 2 for 4 and drove in two.
The Indians put their perfect record back in action with back-to-back conference games on Thursday and Friday, road trips to Ripley and Fairfield to conclude the first week of their season. On Monday, April 3 the Indians will be on the road once more, off to face rival North Adams.
Eastern Brown
140 002 0 —7
Peebles
100 032 2 —8
E. Brown Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Murphy 3-1-0-0, Edmisten 1-0-0-0, Vaughn 3-2-2-0, Haupt 4-0-1-2, Bailey 4-0-1-2, Vance 0-0-0-0, Sawyers 3-0-1-0, Riggs 4-0-0-0, Morgan 4-1-1-0, L. Bailey 4-1-1-0, Jimison 3-2-1-1-, Team 33-7-8-5.
Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Reed 4-0-1-2, Grooms 4-0-2-2, Sims 3-1-0-0, Porter 1-1-1-1, Beekman 4-0-1-0, Day 4-0-0-0, Robinson 3-2-1-0, Shiveley 4-2-2-1, Shoemaker 3-2-2-1, Team 30-8-10-7.
Extra-Base Hits: Shiveley 2B, Porter 3B
E. Brown Pitching:
Haupt 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 69 pitches
Vaughn 2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 53 pitches
Murphy (L) 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 21 pitches
Peebles Pitching:
Beekman (W) 7 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 113 pitches
