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Brody Keeney is going to remember Dakota beating preseason NUIC favorite Forreston 4-3 on Tuesday for a long time. Maybe forever.
“This sets us up to win conference now, as long as we stay on schedule and don’t get upset,” Keeney said after striking out 10 and giving up three runs, only one of them earned, in 5 ⅓ innings.
It was a good, tight, well-played ballgame with the winner staying tied with Lena-Winslow at 3-1 in the North and the loser falling a game behind. But it was the venue, not the details, that made this game unforgettable. Forreston played its “home game” 49 miles to the north in a different state, moving the game to ABC Supply Stadium, the four-year-old, $37 million home of the Class A Beloit Sky Carp.
“We have never played on a field like this,” Keeney said. “It’s a great atmosphere. When the ball hits the glove, you can hear an echo from how big the stadium is. It was a great time.”
More: New power in the North: Forreston looks to continue winning baseball ways in NUIC North
ABC Supply Stadium sits next to the Rock River on the Illinois/Wisconsin state line, seats 3,850 people, with a 400-foot fence to center field and artificial turf, with a dirt pitcher’s mound, home plate area and base paths. And when it started to get dark in the sixth inning — “in high school games around here, you are always racing the sun,” Forreston coach Mike McClelland said — the lights came on to erase any visibility issues.
“It was crazy. Exciting. A lot of fun,” said Dakota leadoff hitter Brodie Goode. “It’s been marked on the calendar all season.”
The Sky Carp make their field available occasionally for Beloit College and Beloit Memorial and Beloit Turner high schools. Forreston (14-4, 2-2) got in on the action because McClelland knows two people in the front office and asked if Forreston could play a game there, too.
“It’s beautiful,” McClelland said. “Most of the players will never get another chance to play on a field like this again.”
“It was definitely a different experience, compared to playing out in the middle of nowhere in Forreston,” Cardinals right fielder Daniel Koehl said.
More: Rockford's greatest baseball players: This Byron grad knows how to hit — and teach hitting
The players liked everything about the experience. The lights. The turf field. The fans sitting so close in folding seats. The brick facade. The bigness of everything. The music playing over the PA system. The announcer — well, except at the end, when they said “Forreston Mustangs” instead of Forreston Cardinals when giving the final score. But the best parts might have been the sunken dugouts and the fenced-in bullpens, touches often reserved for Major League stadiums.
“The dugouts were something different,” Koehl said. “We had a little more privacy. It gave us a better mentality when we are just our team and don’t have to worry about the fans. It will definitely be something I remember the rest of my life.”
“Having a true bullpen to come out of was really cool,” added Schoonhoven, who held Dakota (10-9, 3-1) to four hits and one earned run and struck out nine in a complete game, but took the loss because he walked three straight batters in Dakota’s three-run fifth.
“It was amazing. The field is pristine. There are a ton of fans here. A great atmosphere. Music playing. Cool dugouts. It’s a cool way to play. You get a little piece of what the Big Leaguers get to do.
“I felt like I was in a movie.”
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Dakota, Forreston players enjoy rare chance to play on special field
Continue reading...
“This sets us up to win conference now, as long as we stay on schedule and don’t get upset,” Keeney said after striking out 10 and giving up three runs, only one of them earned, in 5 ⅓ innings.
It was a good, tight, well-played ballgame with the winner staying tied with Lena-Winslow at 3-1 in the North and the loser falling a game behind. But it was the venue, not the details, that made this game unforgettable. Forreston played its “home game” 49 miles to the north in a different state, moving the game to ABC Supply Stadium, the four-year-old, $37 million home of the Class A Beloit Sky Carp.
“We have never played on a field like this,” Keeney said. “It’s a great atmosphere. When the ball hits the glove, you can hear an echo from how big the stadium is. It was a great time.”
More: New power in the North: Forreston looks to continue winning baseball ways in NUIC North
ABC Supply Stadium sits next to the Rock River on the Illinois/Wisconsin state line, seats 3,850 people, with a 400-foot fence to center field and artificial turf, with a dirt pitcher’s mound, home plate area and base paths. And when it started to get dark in the sixth inning — “in high school games around here, you are always racing the sun,” Forreston coach Mike McClelland said — the lights came on to erase any visibility issues.
“It was crazy. Exciting. A lot of fun,” said Dakota leadoff hitter Brodie Goode. “It’s been marked on the calendar all season.”
The Sky Carp make their field available occasionally for Beloit College and Beloit Memorial and Beloit Turner high schools. Forreston (14-4, 2-2) got in on the action because McClelland knows two people in the front office and asked if Forreston could play a game there, too.
“It’s beautiful,” McClelland said. “Most of the players will never get another chance to play on a field like this again.”
“It was definitely a different experience, compared to playing out in the middle of nowhere in Forreston,” Cardinals right fielder Daniel Koehl said.
More: Rockford's greatest baseball players: This Byron grad knows how to hit — and teach hitting
The players liked everything about the experience. The lights. The turf field. The fans sitting so close in folding seats. The brick facade. The bigness of everything. The music playing over the PA system. The announcer — well, except at the end, when they said “Forreston Mustangs” instead of Forreston Cardinals when giving the final score. But the best parts might have been the sunken dugouts and the fenced-in bullpens, touches often reserved for Major League stadiums.
“The dugouts were something different,” Koehl said. “We had a little more privacy. It gave us a better mentality when we are just our team and don’t have to worry about the fans. It will definitely be something I remember the rest of my life.”
“Having a true bullpen to come out of was really cool,” added Schoonhoven, who held Dakota (10-9, 3-1) to four hits and one earned run and struck out nine in a complete game, but took the loss because he walked three straight batters in Dakota’s three-run fifth.
“It was amazing. The field is pristine. There are a ton of fans here. A great atmosphere. Music playing. Cool dugouts. It’s a cool way to play. You get a little piece of what the Big Leaguers get to do.
“I felt like I was in a movie.”
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Dakota, Forreston players enjoy rare chance to play on special field
Continue reading...
