Pitch it like Beckham | SHG junior has best outing in win over U-High

Ty Springer gave Sacred Heart-Griffin the lead, he and pitcher Chase Beckham preserved it, and Mikey Groesch added some flair in the Cyclones’ 4-0 win over Normal U-High in a Central State Eight Conference game at Comstock Field on Tuesday. Beckham had a spectacular outing, going six scoreless innings with four hits, three walks, two were hit by pitches, and he struck out four. It was his best outing in his four starts.

SHG’s win also gave the Cyclones (16-5 overall, 5-3 in the CS8) added reassurance as the Class 3A postseason nears, knocking off one of the two teams unbeaten in league play (Chatham Glenwood is the other, sitting at 15-3 and 7-0 CS8). The Pioneers fell to 20-3 (7-1). U-High and SHG are both in the Mount Zion Sectional complex .

SHG won the Class 2A state baseball championship a year ago, but if the Cyclones — with 10 seniors with that state championship pedigree — want to go back-to-back, they’ll have to do it in the higher class against larger schools. “We played really well today in all of the phases,” SHG coach Nick Naumovich said. “I thought we played good defense.

I thought we pitched really well. I thought we ran the bags really well . .