The Effingham baseball team maintained its unblemished record Monday afternoon, but it didn’t come easy.
In fact, the Hearts needed a seventh-inning rally to accomplish that.
And it was a big seventh inning.
Effingham combined four hits, a walk, a hit batter and two errors to score seven times and come from behind and post an 11-5 victory over Neoga.
The game was initially scheduled to be played in Neoga, but due to weather concerns it was moved to Paul Smith Field.
It was a back-and-forth game. EHS led 1-0, trailed 3-1, led 4-3 and were on the short end of a 5-4 score heading to the seventh inning.
Two Neoga errors and a walk to Quest Hull loaded the bases with just one out. Joe Matteson was then hit by a pitch to force in the tying run and Jack Blickem followed a base hit that drove home two and put the Hearts on top. Before the inning was over, Kalen Reardon and Preston Latch delivered RBI singles and Jackson Lee drove in two more with a base hit.
Lee also had a run-scoring single in the fifth to finish with three RBI in the game, while Hull drove in two runs with a double in the second and a base hit in the three-run fifth.
Brayden Pals, the third pitcher for Effingham, got credit for the win. He relieved in sixth and pitched 1.2 innings. Matthew Loy came in to record the final out. Christian Raddatz was the starter and went the first four innings, allowing two hits and three unearned runs. Jackson Doedtman also pitched one inning.
The Hearts, now 6-0, will play Friday at Flora and then return home to face Charleston on Saturday.