Special Thanks to the Argus/Dispatch

By Shannon Heaton, Staff sports writer

Moline baseball coach Derek Lindauer was worried that his pitching aces -- Andrew Porter and Brandon Engle -- each had only seven innings under their belts heading into Saturday's doubleheader at Rock Island.

As far as Porter was concerned, Lindauer needn't have worried quite so much.

Porter, a senior left-hander, held the Rocks to four hits and successfully got out of every sticky situation as Moline took a 1-0 victory over the host Rocks in the opener.

``He's done that for us several times now,'' Lindauer said of Porter's outing. ``They hit a couple of balls hard against him, but Andrew consistently pitched out of the jams. He's always in the game. On Saturdays, with Andrew and Brandon on the mound, I figure we always have a chance.''

The Rocks (12-3) had several opportunities to take the lead early and tie the game in the seventh.

To wit:

-- With two outs in the third inning, Chase Stephens tripled to the left-field corner, but was stranded.

-- In the fifth, Luke DePron opened the inning with a double into the left-center field gap, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

``We trust our baserunners to make good judgments, and Luke thought he could make it,'' Rocks coach Andy Campbell said. ``And another reason was that he saw Chase be aggressive earlier. But Moline had a great relay back in.''

-- Then, trailing in the seventh, the Rocks got a one-out double from sophomore Andrew Tarnow, but two subsequent pop-ups kept him there.

``We've always had solid defense; in fact, I think we have the best defense out there,'' Porter said of his error-free teammates. ``As long as we can get the ball down and throw strikes, and our defense does the job, the pitchers will have a chance to win.''

But as good an outing as Porter had, Rock Island starter Tom DeBroeck certainly at least equaled Porter's effort on the mound. He had a no-hitter going into the fifth, when Jeff Fobert led off with a clean single up the middle. DeBroeck finished the game with no walks and eight strikeouts.

``That was one of the better performances I've seen in my four years here,'' Campbell said. ``Tom pitched absolutely outstanding.''

DeBroeck, too, was able to get clear of some jams -- one self-created in the third inning by a bad throw and another in the fifth -- without giving up a run.

However, the Maroons (5-2) were finally able to push the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, when cleanup batter David Krismanits reached on a throwing error by Rocks third baseman Zac Simpson.

Pinch runner Mike Jones came in to run for Krismanits, and his speed made a difference in Moline's run. Fobert hit a sharp grounder back at DeBroeck, and Jones, already nearly to third when DeBroeck turned that way, made going to first the only option.

Then, with Moline's Jake Bevans up, DeBroeck sailed a fastball over catcher Chris McFarland's glove all the way back to the screen, and Jones scored easily for the game's lone run.

``We had a couple of opportunities in the third and fifth, but we finally got one in the seventh,'' Lindauer said. ``It's nice to get out with a win. We've got some things to work on. We've got to execute better and cut down on our strikeouts. If we can do that, I like what we have.''

Despite the loss, Campbell was happy that his ace went seven innings without giving up an earned run in a conference outing.

``He toughened up when it got tough; that's his nature,'' Campbell said. ``He's our No. 1 starter, a mentally tough kid, and he did exactly what we expect out of our No. 1 guy. Moline had opportunities and took advantage of one and we didn't. But if you like pure baseball, the way it was meant to be played. It was a great game to watch.''

However, Moline didn't get a chance to make it a sweep, as the second game was only three minutes old when it was suspended by lightning in the area, as well as heavy rains. At the time of the stoppage, there were two outs in the top of the first, with a 1-and-0 count on Moline's Fobert.

Rock Island sent pitcher Justin Morelock (2-0) to start the game, while Brandon Engle (1-0) was expected to pitch for Moline.

A couple of scenarios are in the mix for making the nightcap up. The game could be played at 1 p.m. Monday, which could result in a doubleheader for the Rocks (12-3), since Rochelle is already on their card at 4:30 at the Rock Island field.

Or, the game could be played on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Either way, Porter figures his pitching mate will be ready. ``Brandon's a huge competitor,'' he said of Engle. ``We always like to feed off of one another's performances, and he knows how to throw.''