By Staff
MOUNDRIDGE – The 2023 season got underway on Monday for the Moundridge baseball team as they hosted Conway Springs and split a doubleheader with Conway Springs winning 13-10 before Moundridge buried the visitors 15-0 in just three innings.
Next up for the Wildcats will be on Friday, March 31 when they host Inman.
“In game one we competed decently,” pointed out head coach Jason Rains. “We just came out a bit sloppy as first game nerves got the best of us and the pitchers had a hard time finding the strike zone. We did keep it a close game in spite of our sloppiness.”
In that first game both teams put five runs on the board in the first inning before Conway Springs put another three in the scorebook in inning two while Moundridge only added two more. The Wildcats did put three on the board in the third to take a 10-8 advantage which they carried until the fifth and sixth innings when Conway Springs put five more runs on the board total to take and gain the final 13-10 win.
It was a big debut for freshman Wildcat Lars Tegethoff as he had a pair of hits, knocked across three runs and stole a pair of bases while junior Ty Rains and freshman Layton Schmidt also had a pair of hits each. Rains, Schmidt, Joaquin Huff, and Lane Durst all scored twice as well.
Rains led the team in stolen bases with four while Layton Wiens had the only extra base hit with a double.
Logan Churchill took the loss after throwing a pair of innings and giving up eight runs on three hits while walking five and striking out six. Rains, Schmidt and Clay Wilson also spent time on the mound as the group ended up striking out 13 in the game.
After a slow 1-0 start after the first inning of game two, Moundridge poured 10 runs across in inning two and added four more in the bottom of the third to run rule Conway Springs 15-0 in the nightcap and earn a split of the doubleheader.
“In game two we came out much more focused and looked sharp,” noted coach Rains. “Layton (Schmidt) pitched a great game for us while Ty (Rains) was near perfect on the night as he reached base every time he came to bat with a pair of hits, six walks, a hit by pitch while also getting a pair of runs batted in and stealing six bases.”
The Wildcats were helped by the fact the Conway Springs pitchers had trouble finding the strike zone as they threw 129 pitches in just 2.2 innings while giving up 18 walks. Eight Wildcats recorded at least a pair of base on balls in the shortened game.
(Joaquin Huff)
Joaquin Huff had the only two hits for Moundridge while Keaton Anderson scored three times off of three walks and five others scored at least twice. Rains recorded another pair of steals to give him a total of six on the day.
Freshman Layton Schmidt pitched for the Wildcats, throwing 46 pitches in three innings while giving up just one hit, walking one and striking out five.
Coach Rains concluded his reflections on the season opening doubleheader by saying, “Our freshmen contributed well in both the games with Lars (Tegethoff), Layton (Schmidt), Clay (Wilson), and Paul (Grill) all playing their roles well. Overall, more positives than negatives.”
GAME ONE – Conway Springs at Moundridge
Conway Springs > 5-3-0-0-3-2-0 = 13 runs, 9 hits, 3 errors; WILDCATS > 5-2-3-0-0-0-0 = 10 runs, 9 hits, 3 errors.
WILDCATS BATTING (AB-R-H-RBI-BB): Ty Rains > 2-2-2-1-3; Lane Durst > 3-2-1-0-2; Layton Schmidt > 3-2-2-2-1; Joaquin Huff > 2-2-0-1-2; Lars Tegethoff > 4-1-2-3-1; Logan Churchill > 5-0-0-2-0; London Ward > 5-0-0-0-0; Clay Wilson > 5-0-1-0-0; Layton Wiens > 2-1-1-0-1; Thomas Porter > 1-0-0-0-0. Team Totals > 32-10-9-9-10. 2B > Wiens – 1. SB > Rains – 4; Tegethoff – 2; Wiens, Durst – 1.
WILDCATS PITCHING (IP-P-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Logan Churchill > 2.0-72-3-8-8-5-6; Clay Wilson > 2.2-59-3-3-1-1-2; Layton Schmidt > 0.1-4-0-0-0-0-1; Ty Rains > 2.0-43-3-2-2-3-4. Team Totals > 7.0-178-9-13-11-9-13.
GAME TWO – Conway Springs at Moundridge
Conway Springs > 0-0-0 = 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error; WILDCATS > 1-10-4 = 15 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors.
WILDCATS BATTING (AB-R-H-RBI-BB): Rains > 0-2-0-1-3; Durst > 2-1-0-1-2; Schmidt > 2-1-0-2-2; Huff > 3-2-2-1-0; Tegethoff > 1-2-0-1-2; Churchill > 1-2-0-0-2; Porter > 0-0-0-0-0; Keaton Anderson > 0-3-0-1-3; Camden Dalke > 0-0-0-0-0; Wiens > 1-2-0-0-2; Wilson > 1-0-0-2-2. Team Totals > 11-15-2-9-18. SB > Rains – 2; Wiens, Churchill, Huff, Anderson, Tegethoff – 1.
WILDCATS PITCHING (IP-P-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Schmidt > 3.0-46-1-0-0-1-5.
(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)