By Drake Skleba

PERU – Twenty-four hours after being humiliated by La Salle-Peru, the Ottawa Pirates bounced back in style. Behind a sterling two-hitter by Pirate ace RHP Jonah Morris (6-0), the Pirates slipped past L-P 2-1 on Friday night at Veterans Park in Peru. The result was quite a turnaround from Thursday, when the Pirates fell 13-1 in five innings.

With the win, Ottawa (20-6; 9-2) and La Salle-Peru (18-6; 9-2) now share the penthouse in the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference Western Division. L-P has a season finale three-game series with Geneseo beginning on Monday. Ottawa will take on Sterling in their NIB-12 West series finale.

In the bottom of the first, L-P senior leadoff-man John Heister walked, went all the way to third on a sac-bunt and scored on a ground out by Cavalier starting pitcher Kyle Jenkins (41/3 IP; 2R, 4H, 0 ER, 0-2) for a quick L-P 1-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth the Pirates picked up an unearned run to ties things a 1-1. The Cavaliers committed five big errors, which contributed to their defeat.

In the top of the fifth, Pirate junior center-fielder Mike Hermosillo singled home Pirate senior leadoff-man Buddy Ahlstrom with the lead run. Ahlstrom had singled off of Cavalier reliever Heister.

In the bottom of the fifth, L-P loaded the bases with two outs against Morris. Jenkins ripped a smash up the middle which appeared to be ticketed to center-field and a 3-2 Cavalier lead. But Morris snared Jenkins' shot and threw to Pirate first baseman Jordan Jansen to end the inning.

Morris ended the game with a flourish, slamming the door on L-P with 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and the seventh. Morris picked up three of his five strikeouts in the last two innings.

“I thought I did exceptionally well tonight,” said Morris. “This was probably the best performance of my career, even better than my no-hitter last week.” 

Hermosillo had a 2-for-4 day at the plate to lead the Pirates.

“Huge win for us tonight, especially coming off of that big loss last night,” said Hermosillo. “Jonah has been dominant for us all season. I got a fastball and was fortunate to drive in the lead run.”

The third game between the Pirates and the Cavaliers has yet to be rescheduled. I would think the two rivals will square off Thursday or Friday at King Field in Ottawa.

 “I am just so proud of the kids for the character they showed after being humiliated last night,” said Ottawa head coach Don Heaberlin. “ Any time Jonah takes the mound we feel we will win. Jonah has been that kind of ace for us. Mike's big hit is just expected around here. That's what Mike does for us. He is just a special player.”