Rex win 2023 Bob Warn Field opener
Jun. 10—As literally all Wabash Valley sports fans know — OK, maybe not all, but a lot — Indiana State's baseball team did not get to play NCAA super regional games at Bob Warn Field this weekend for reasons that have been explained too many times to repeat here.
Because of that availability, the Terre Haute-based Rex summer team got to play its first "real" home game Saturday night at "The Bob." And they took advantage of that opportunity by beating the Danville Dans 4-2 in Prospect League Wabash River Valley Division wooden-bat action.
The Rex had gone 1-2 in previous home games this season, but those contests were played at Rose-Hulman's Art Nehf Field last weekend because of a conflict with the NCAA regional being hosted by ISU at Bob Warn Field.
On Saturday, the Rex played like they enjoyed themselves in front of 551 fans.
The Rex opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning after Slater Schield led off with a walk and stole second base. One out later, he advanced to third on an errant pick-off throw to second by Danville starting pitcher Carter Heninger. One more out later, Schield raced home on a wild pitch.
The home team increased its margin to 2-0 with another run in the third after Payton Howard led off by legging out a double. One out later, Howard stole third and he eventually came home when Joe Hamilton grounded a single into right field.
The Dans answered with their first run in the top of the fourth. Justin Vossos got their first hit off Rex starter Dawson Smith — a double deep into the left-field corner — and he stole third before Brandon Bishop brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right-center.
But the Rex tallied a single run for the third straight inning in the bottom of the fourth to seize a 3-1 advantage. Schield again walked, stole second — see a pattern here? — and stole third before he raced home on an RBI groundout by recent West Vigo High School standout Carter Murphy.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Danville designated hitter Chase Vinson blasted the night's only home run. It was a solo shot that easily cleared the right-field wall and hopefully didn't damage any cars parked in the media/staff lot near Third Street. (An unnamed newspaper reporter kept his fingers crossed before checking his 2017 Hyundai Elantra after the game.)
The Rex added one more inning to their string of ones, however, to boost their lead to 4-2 in the fifth. Matthew Albritton led off with a walk and Howard followed with his second double — this time a blooper to shallow left-center that forced Albritton to hold up at third — before Jeremy Piatkiewiez lofted a sac fly to center to plate the patient Albritton.
That was the end of all scoring. Smith went five innings to get the win, then relievers Tyce Ochs (two innings), Payton Adkisson (one inning) and Donnie Dycus (one inning) held the visitors scoreless the rest of the way.
This was the second straight night that Dycus earned a save. On the road Friday, the Rex outlasted the Thrillville Thrillbillies 7-5 as the right-handed Dycus closed the door with a scoreless ninth.
"Donnie Dycus has been good for us coming in from the [bull]pen," Rex manager Harry Markotay told the Tribune-Star afterward. "He's a young guy from the University of Dallas who I had coached previously a few years ago. He's been great. ... He's been out there two nights in a row, getting us the save."
Markotay also praised the 6-foot-7 Smith, Ochs and Adkisson for their pitching efforts in the first eight innings that gave Dycus an opportunity for another save. "It was a great job by our pitching staff all the way around," the Rex's first-year manager concluded.
An offensive oddity that Markotay did not mind belonged to Schield, who scored two of the four runs and stole three bases without the benefit of a hit. As noted earlier, Schield did reach base twice on walks.
"The production was great from him," Markotay mentioned. "You oughta be able to do small things when you can't get the ball to fall ... and he did. He did a great job of getting on base, along with the rest of our guys."
The Rex (5-5) will play host to Springfield at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Bob Warn Field.
"The guys are doing great," Markotay emphasized Saturday night. "They've been really working hard, pushing it. These guys are really grinding it out."
This is Markotay's fourth season as a summer-league manager, but it's his first in the Prospect League and his first with the Rex. So far, he's enjoying the team and the city of Terre Haute.
"I love it here," he insisted. "It's really growing on me. I like to eat at Charlie's and The Terminal [Public House]. There's a lot of good places. Rick's Smokehouse [& Grill] is good too."
