By Staff

            LITTLE RIVER – On Friday in what was matchup of area baseball unbeatens, Little River simply overpowered Inman for a two game (20-2, 15-0) sweep of a doubleheader.

            Little River showed why they are unbeaten, now at 12-0 while handing Inman their first two losses of the season and dropping them to 10-2. Little River will not be back in play until Friday when they host Ellsworth while Inman returns to the competitive diamond on Tuesday at Remington.

In game one, Little River scored three runs in the first, four in the second, five in the third and another eight in the fourth while giving up just two runs to Inman in the top of the fourth in earning the final 20-2 win.

            Only Brant Mikulecky had more than one hit with a pair for the Teutons though Talon Welch hit for double.

            It took three pitchers to try and stop the Redskins for Inman as Samuel Shober, Jesse Ballard and Zaden Johnson all pitched.

            For Little River, Dalton Mantz went 4-for-4, Logan Renken went 3-for-3, and Kayston Cox went 3-for-4 to lead the Reskin bats. Renken, Mantz, Cox and Grant Stephens all hit doubles while Braden Young hit two. Young and Mantz also pounded out triples with Renken and Cox hammering out home runs. Renken finished the game with five runs batted in while he, Young, and Mantz all scored four times. The Redskins also stole a total of 13 bases in the four innings as well.

            Braden Young threw all four innings for Little River, needing just 46 pitches to give up five hits, two runs, walk zero and strike out four.

            “We knew it was going to be a challenge,” noted Inman head coach Matt Mikulecky. “Little River showed exactly why they are ranked number one in Class 2-1A.”

            The nightcap went much the same for Little River as they collected three runs in the first, seven in the second and three more in each of the third and fourth innings while holding Inman to no ones and just one hit in the final 15-0 shutout victory.

            Karson Scheirling had the only hit for the Teutons while Grant Weins and Zaden Johnson worked the mound.

            For Little River, Logan Renken and Kayston Cox each were perfect at the plate with Renken going 4-for-4 and Cox 3-for-3 while Braden Young was 3-for-4. Renken and Young each pounded out a pair of doubles while C J Herzog and Carter Stansbury had one double. The Redskins ran wild on the bases again as well collecting 18 stolen bases giving them a total of 31 in two games or eight innings. Renken had five swipes, Young three and five others had at least a pair.

            Dalton Mantz was three walks and just one hit from a perfect game on the mound for the Redskins while striking out nine.

            Teuton head coach Mikulecky concluded his reflections on the day by saying, “Their pitchers, (Braden) Young and (Dalton) Mantz were outstanding, and their entire lineup hit everything hard. We were overpowered in every way. Disappointed in how we responded to failure more than anything else. Baseball can be punishing because there is no clock to run out. We were not mentally tough and didn’t have much fight in us today.”

INMAN TEUTONS at LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS

GAME 1:

Scoring: TEUTONS > 0-0-0-2-x-x-x = 2-5-5;  LITTLE RIVER > 3-4-5-8-x-x-x = 20-17-0.

INMAN TEUTONS HITTING(ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Brant Mikulecky > 2-0-2-0-0; Samuel Shober > 1-0-0-0-0; Jesse Ballard > 2-0-0-0-0; Zaden Johnson > 2-1-0-0-0; Talon Welch > 2-1-1-0-0; Rhett Gilkey > 2-0-1-2-0; Caden Bachman > 0-0-0-0-0; Grant Weins > 2-0-0-0-0; Brody Froese > 1-0-0-0-0; Caleb Bigler > 1-0-1-0-0.  Team Totals > 15-2-5-2-0.  2B (1) > T. Welch – 1.

INMAN TEUTON PITCHING (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): Samuel Shober > 1.0-42-7-10-2-0-1; Jesse Ballard (L) > 2.0-75-7-8-8-3-2; Zaden Johnson > 1.0-25-3-2-2-0-1.  Team Totals > 4.0-142-17-20-10-3-4.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN HITTING (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Braden Young > 5-4-4-2-0; Dalton Mantz > 4-4-4-3-0; Logan Renken > 3-4-3-5-1; Grant Stephens > 3-2-2-2-0; Kayston Cox > 4-2-3-3-0; Spencer Strecker > 3-0-1-2-1; Carter Stansbury > 3-1-1-0-0; David Crandall > 1-0-0-0-1; Corbin Herbst > 2-2-1-1-0; C J Herzog > 3-1-1-0-0; Lakin Weige > 1-0-0-0-0.  Team Totals > 32-20-20-18-3.  2B (6) > B. Young – 2; L. Renken, G. Stephens, D. Mantz, K. Cox – 1.  3B (2) > B. Young, D. Mantz – 1.  HR (2) > L. Renken, K. Cox – 1.  SB (13) > L. Renken, D. Mantz – 3; C. Stansbury – 2; C J Herzog, B. Young, K. Cox, C. Herbst, S. Strecker – 1.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN PITCHING (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): Braden Young > 4.0-46-5-2-2-0-4.

GAME 2:

Scoring: TEUTONS > 0-0-0-0-x-x-x = 0-1-3;  LITTLE RIVER > 3-7-3-3-x-x-x = 16-15-1.

INMAN TEUTONS HITTING (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Brant Mikulecky > 1-0-0-0-1; Samuel Shober > 2-0-0-0-0; Jesse Ballard > 2-0-0-0-0; Zaden Johnson > 1-0-0-0-1; Talon Welch > 2-0-0-0-0; Rhett Gilkey > 2-0-0-0-0; Karson Scheirling > 2-0-1-0-0; Brody Froese > 1-0-0-0-1; Caleb Bigler > 1-0-0-0-0.  Team Totals > 14-0-1-0-3.  SB (3) > K. Scheirling, B. Mikulecky, B. Froese – 1.

INMAN TEUTONS PITCHING (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): Grant Weins > 3.1-106-11-13-13-8-5; Zaden Johnson > 0.2-13-3-2-2-0-0.  Team Totals > 4.0-119-15-16-15-8-5.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN HITTING (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): Braden Young > 4-3-3-1-0; Dalton Mantz > 2-3-1-0-2; Logan Renken > 4-4-4-4-0; Grant Stephens > 2-3-1-1-1; Kayston Cox > 3-1-3-2-1; Spencer Strecker > 4-0-1-0-0; Carter Stansbury > 1-1-1-1-3; Corbin Herbst > 4-0-0-0-0; C J Herzog > 2-1-1-2-1.  Team Totals > 26-16-15-11-8.  2B (6) > L. Renken, B. Young – 2; CJ Herzog, C. Stansbury – 1.  SB (18) > L. Renken – 5; B. Young – 3; G. Stephens, D. Mantz, K. Cox, C. Stansbury, S. Strecker – 2.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN PITCHING (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): Dalton Mantz > 4.0-70-1-0-0-3-9.

(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)