The Mattoon Green Wave advanced to the semifinal round of its own baseball Regional. Mattoon blanked Paris 6-0 behind Tucker Rappe’s two-hit shutout.
The Green Wave scored a run in the bottom of the first inning. Will Courtney turned a potential out into an early lead. The Mattoon sophomore was on third base when Peyton Morrow hit a grounder to Paris third baseman T.J. Potter. Courtney broke for the plate and Potter threw home. In the ensuing rundown, Courtney was able to avoid the swipe tag attempt by Tigers’ catcher Bo Minor about halfway between third and home. After the missed tag, Courtney was able to scamper in for the game’s first run.
It remained 1-0 Mattoon until the fourth inning. The Green Wave erupted for five runs to gain some breathing room. Morrow led off with a double. He was sacrificed to third by Rappe. Sawyer Scott’s single brought in Morrow to make it 2-0. Alex Lilly followed that with a base hit. The Green Wave continued the rally with three consecutive run-scoring singles by Nick Poorman, Colton Shoot, and Rayme Hamilton. Courtney picked up a base hit, and Garrette Branson’s sacrifice fly to left field made it 6-0 Mattoon after four.
Rappe was in control on the mound. The left-hander tossed a complete game shutout. He allowed just two base hits, walked three, struck out two, and hit a batter. His pitching record moved to 6-0 on the season and the Green Wave collected win number 19 as a team. Mattoon outhit Paris by a count of 9-2 in the game. The Green Wave stranded five runners while the Tigers left six men on base.
Mattoon advances to face Centennial on Wednesday at 4:30pm. You’ll be able to hear that game on 101.3 WMCI.
