Royal Giants to face Buckley Dutch Masters in Eastern Illinois Baseball League Championship Series
By FRED KRONER
The undefeated Royal Giants are one weekend away from running the table during the Eastern Illinois Baseball League’s season.
The Giants opened postseason play on Sunday with pitchers Nolan Roseman and Adam Crites combining on a no-hitter in a 10-0 win over El Paso in a semifinal tournament game shortened to six innings by the 10-run rule.
Roseman worked the first five innings and Crites pitched the final frame.
Royal put up the only runs it would need in the bottom of the first inning when Blake Hoveln belted a two-run home run.
The Giants (7-0) put the game out of reach with a seven-run fourth inning.
“We’re almost to our goal (of adding a tournament title to the regular-season crown),” Royal manager Tim Dillman said. “We’re set up pretty good.
“We have pitching depth, a good bullpen, good defense and we’re hitting again.”
Cole Jones delivered a three-run homer and Asher Bradd – who was selected as the league’s regular-season most valuable player – collected two hits, including a run-scoring double.
Jones has a team-high two home runs this summer.
“It’s big that we got up early,” Dillman said. “We have so much confidence in our pitchers. We don’t give up a lot of runs.”
Dillman got all of his position players into the semifinal game.
“I was hoping we’d play nine (innings) to give other pitchers some work,” Dillman said.
The Giants will face Buckley’s defending tournament champs in next weekend’s best-of-three championship series. It will be a rematch of the 2019 tourney finals.
The Dutch Masters secured their berth in the finals by overpowering Paxton 15-4 in a semifinal game shortened to eight innings by the 10-run rule.
Storm Joop pounded four hits and knocked in five runs for Buckley (5-2), which has a five-game winning streak.
The championship series will start on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Buckley. Top-seeded Royal will be the visiting team in the opener.
The season will conclude on Sunday with the scheduled first game set to start at 1 p.m. If a tiebreaking game is needed, it will be played 30 minutes after the conclusion of the opener.
When the teams played to start the season, Royal posted wins by scores of 8-2 and 3-1.
Dillman doesn’t mind playing the entire tourney at Buckley’s Scheiwe Field.
“At Buckley, you’re playing in front of a nice crowd that gets into the game,” he said.
Three players – all members of the Royal Giants – will be honored prior to the start of Sunday’s tournament action.
Bradd will receive the Ralph Loschen Award as the league’s most outstanding player. He batted .476 in the abbreviated regular season and had a league-high eight stolen bases. He was the only E.I. player to hit for the cycle during regular-season games.
Teammate Jesse Remington – who was on vacation and unavailable for the semifinals – was chosen for the Virgil Scheiwe Award as the league’s outstanding pitcher. Remington struck out a league-high 30 batters in 20 regular-season innings.
Remington was the league’s only three-game winner during the regular season, though Roseman joined that club with his semifinal victory.
Also to be honored is Royal’s Colton Carr, who earned the Dick Franzen Award as the league’s batting champion. In six regular-season games, Carr was 10 for 17 with a league-best .588 average.
The Giants are seeking their second tourney title in three years. They captured the crown in 2018.
