Mount Vernon uses hot start, two late runs to beat No. 3 Marion in Class 3A substate semifinal

MARION – Mount Vernon has caused fits for ranked teams in the postseason.

The Mustangs nearly knocked off state title contenders the last two years. This time, they succeeded.

Mount Vernon led from start to finish and upset No. 3 Marion, 6-2, in a Class 3A Substate 5 semifinal high school baseball game Monday night at Les Hipple Athletic Complex. The Mustangs (19-12) will face No. 7 Davenport Assumption (26-11) in the substate final Wednesday at North Scott High School in Eldridge.

“We're always a postseason team,” said Mount Vernon’s Mikey Ryan, who had three hits and three RBIs. “We’ve showed that the past years. We put in work every single day. We're going to take some losses early. We’ve got a lot of multi-sport athletes.

“Even me, I've been coming on here at the end just because it takes a while in baseball. You experience a lot of failure, so you have slow starts, but we come on and we're going to keep going.”

Mount Vernon Coach Charles Chatman explained the postseason performances. The Mustangs are involved in spring sports, like track, soccer and golf, preventing them from doing a lot of baseball work. Chatman estimates that it takes about 20 to 25 games to iron out the lineup and reach midseason form.

“For us, it just takes some time,” Chatman said. “We don't practice in the offseason. You have to be very patient and just understanding that it's a process.

“We talk about it,” Chatman said. “We're never overwhelmed. We don't look at records and batting averages. Those things are irrelevant. We're just going to figure out what type of team we have. We can start practicing and figuring out how to beat teams. That's just that's our MO (Modus Operandi).”

The Mustangs stunned Marion in the first inning and delivered a knockout blow in the seventh. They jumped to a 4-0 lead thanks to a couple of walks followed by a quartet of hits. Chatman talked to the Mustangs on the bus about the importance of a quick start.

“We have been a really good road team this year,” Chatman said. “If you look at our boxes, the first inning has been a good inning for us. The top of our line of can hit. There's some good athletes up there. Generally, teams are just trying to like settle in and we've been able to ambush that first inning and put up crooked numbers.”

Colin Bentley and Erik Lamb drew bases on balls in the first three at-bats. Ryan opened the scoring with an RBI single. Kellen Haverback’s double chased home Lamb and Ryan. Gabe Grafft, a freshman catcher who wasn’t on the depth chart to start the season, added a two-out RBI single.

“You know the guys that have had good seasons, but those guys aren't the way you win ball games,” Chatman said. “You win ball games when the rest of the lineup is well-balanced and guys come up with two-out and two-strike hits.”

Ryan provided two key insurance runs with a two-run double to left center that scored Bentley and Lamb in the seventh. Ryan was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple but the damage was done. The Mustangs had some breathing room.

“More runs is obviously always better,” Ryan said. “You could see that through all my at-bats, even my strikeout, I went down swinging. I swung at pretty much every single pitch I saw, so if it's a strike I'm going for it. I just kind of put my bat on the ball and good things happened.”

Senior A.J. McDermott and Cael Foreman, who will be a freshman in the fall, limited the Wolves as they tried to chip away at the lead. McDermott (8-0) allowed just two runs on three hits, dropping his earned-run average to 2.84.

“They have done that all year,” Chatman said. ”They command three pitches. They control the run game.

“They’re unfazed. They understand guys are going to get on base because they don’t have plus-velocity, but they can get guys out. They can speed it up and slow it down. Go up-down and in-out. Just do the things you have to do to win ballgames.”

Marion (24-8) had plenty of chances but stranded the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings against McDermott. The Wolves brought the tying run to the plate but Foreman induced a game-ending fielder’s choice to end the threat. Marion left 12 total runners on base.

“We just never got that big hit,” Fish said. “We had some situations where we could have tied it up. Then they got those two more runs in the seventh. I still felt good with only two runs but then they got that.”

After the opening frame, Grayson Kirsch locked in and shut down Mount Vernon the next five innings. He worked six total innings, allowing only one hit after the first frame and striking out 10 overall.

Jake Miller and Isaiah Scott reached base and scored in the third. Marion couldn’t get closer than two.

“Pitching at the start of the game is like taking off in an airplane,” Fish said. “You have to get into the air and then we cruise. We didn’t get off the runway very well.

“We put ourselves in a spot. I thought we battled back a little bit.”

Mount Vernon will attempt to earn its fifth state baseball appearance and first since 2013.

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