Paul Morse said they took notice of how Boyle's inability to produce on offense early allowed Lincoln to stay in the game and eventually win in extra innings, then took extra batting practice Tuesday before the game.
"Most of them stayed around and watched the (second) game last night. (They saw that) Boyle chased a lot of pitches and popped a lot of things up," Morse said.
The results were just what Morse had hoped for, at least in the first three innings, when Danville (28-6) got six of its seven hits and all the runs it needed.
Lincoln (9-20) lost for the third time to Danville, failing to capitalize on the momentum it built in its win over Boyle.
"We didn't feed well off our game (Monday) night," Lincoln coach Danny Masten said.
Grimes, however, fed off the offensive support Danville gave him.
A pitcher's dream
"That's a pitcher's dream, to get a good lead and stay ahead the whole game," he said.
Grimes helped his own cause with a two-run home run in the first inning, and Deangleo Durham hit a three-run homer in the second.
But even when the Admirals' offense cooled off, Grimes stayed hot on the mound. Lincoln didn't get a hit off him until the sixth inning, and he gave up only three hits in all and had nine strikeouts.
"He had probably his best stuff of the year," Morse said, noting that Grimes' fastball topped at 89 mph and was consistently in the mid-80s.
That fastball was complemented by a curveball that Lincoln's hitters couldn't seem to resist swinging at but couldn't hit.
"I just thought Grimes did a good job mixing his fastball with his curveball and making us look bad at the plate," Masten said.
"When he has that breaking ball on, there's not many teams that can hit him," Morse said. "When he's on, there's not a much better high school curveball I've seen in six years of coaching."
Grimes said he felt his stuff was better when he struck out 16 batters against Conner last month, but he was pleased with the way his curveball worked against Lincoln.
"That's my main pitch," he said. "I've got to throw it for strikes and get ahead in the count."
Errors hurt Lincoln, helped Danville
Masten questioned his choice of starting pitchers for Lincoln after Devon Denson didn't survive the first inning and Jared Rogers, the Patriots' third pitcher, shut out Danville on two hits over the final 4 1/3 innings.
"Hindsight is 20-20, but I probably should've started Jared today and see what happened," Masten said.
Two errors helped Danville score its first two runs, and C.J. Lynn drove in the third with a sacrifice fly before Grimes hit his first career homer, a line drive over the left-field fence.
John Raines singled and Rich Witten doubled in the second off Lincoln's Cody Hensley before Durham planted a ball in the parking lot behind left-center field to make it 8-0.
The Patriots loaded the bases with one out in the sixth after Noah Keeton walked and Ryne Tolar and Steve Middleton each singled, but Trevor Merriman grounded to Danville second baseman Nate Uslin to start an inning-ending double play.
Despite the loss, Lincoln is still eagerly looking ahead to next week's 12th Region Tournament.
"We set our goal to compete in the region, and we feel like we're turning the corner on being able to do that," Masten said.
Danville has reason to look forward to the regional, too, having won 15 of 16 games against 12th Region teams.
"Hopefully we can keep our momentum going and get good pitching and defense," Morse said. "Who knows what the matchups are going to be, but it's probably going to be the most competitive 12th Region Tournament I can remember in the last 20 years."
Devon Denson, Cody Hensley (1), Jared Rogers (2) and Trey Edwards. Matt Grimes and C.J. Lynn. W-Grimes. L-Denson. 2B-Rich Witten (D). HR-Grimes (D), Deangleo Durham (D).
All-Tournament Team
Deangleo Durham, Danville; Matt Grimes, Danville; Matt Hume, Garrard County; Trevor Merriman, Lincoln County; Tyler Morris, Boyle County; Ryne Tolar, Lincoln County; Rich Witten, Danville.
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