Nerves hurt as Mathews falls to Tigers

By MIKE McLAIN Tribune Chronicle
STRUTHERS — Sometimes it’s better to forget history, especially when it’s a painful reminder of a bad experience.

Mathews baseball coach Dan Kennedy did just that Tuesday after the Mustangs lost to the Springfield Local Tigers, 11-1, in a Division IV district semifinal game at Cene Park. Kennedy quickly shook off the performance and looked ahead to a regular-season game Thursday against Badger for the Northeast Athletic Conference championship.

‘‘We were nervous. We shouldn’t have been, but we were,’’ Kennedy said. ‘‘It doesn’t matter. We’re going to go home and get ready to play Badger. We played ugly today. We’re much better than that, and we’re going to keep on going.’’

Springfield (22-5) took control by scoring four runs after the first two batters were retired in the bottom of the first inning. The Tigers added three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to seal a game that was called after six innings of play.

Springfield pitcher Travis Richey spread out five singles, while striking out eight and walking one in going the route. He displayed excellent command of a curveball that often had Mathews batters leaning away from the plate.

‘‘Travis is a good pitcher,’’ Tigers coach Bob Beam said. ‘‘A lot of people were wondering why we didn’t throw (Todd) Kibby. Travis is our guy, too. He’s 6-1 now. It was his turn to pitch, and that’s who we went with. He throws a lot of strikes.

Beam thinks that Richey and Kibby both have the skills needed to be the ace of the pitching staff.

‘‘They’re really our 1-2 guys,’’ Beam said. ‘‘Any time we’ve got one of those guys out there, we have a good chance.’’

Kibby, who played center field, drove in the first run with a double that scored Bryan Visingardi. Kibby scored on a single by Dylon DeJane, who came around to score on a double by Frank Sferra. Sferra scored on an error to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead.

Mathews starter Rick Sommers was replaced by Luke Weymer after Kibby led off the third inning with a walk. Kibby scored on a single by Sferra.

Jake Swank relieved Weymer after Sferra walked leading off the sixth. Mathews pitchers combined to walk eight and allow 11 hits, including three by Sferra.

Collin Bowser scored on a single by Sommers in the fifth for the Mustangs.

The Tigers responded by sending nine batters to the plate in the fifth. The first four Springfield batters reached on walks in the sixth. Richey singled in Matt Semach with the 10th run, and Visingardi drove a Swank pitch to deep right field for a single that scored Brad Ferraro to end the game.

‘‘When you jump up on a team like that, you have to keep doing what you’re doing and try to score some more runs,’’ Beam said. ‘‘Once you get that momentum going, you have to try to keep it.’’

The Tigers will try to win their first district championship since 1994 when they play McDonald here today.

mmclain@tribune-chronicle.com