Conference Contest Slips Away From Wildcats

The University School baseball team lost to Living Word Lutheran 8-4 in a Midwest Classic Conference game at Living Word Lutheran in Jackson.

The game was played on two different days.  It began on Thursday, but with one out and a Timberwolf on first base in the bottom of the fourth inning, the game was suspended due to rain and wet grounds.  The game was resumed Saturday. At the time, Living Word Lutheran was leading 5-0.  In Saturday’s final innings, the Wildcats rallied and put pressure on the Timberwolves, but they were unable to come back with enough runs to win the game on a morning that was as cold and as rainy as Thursday’s afternoon.

“It’s tough to win when you give up 11 walks and a hit batter,” said USM’s head coach Tim Bartz.

“The weather was pretty brutal and made the pitching tough,” said USM’s captain Jack Wells.  “It hurt us, especially in the first part of the game.”

Bartz continued, “We made two foolish base running plays that cost us outs today (Saturday).  Can’t do that with only nine outs left. So we are now 8-8. The goal is to get back over five hundred.  We have two conference games left and two non-conference games before play-offs. Our top pitchers will be going the rest of the season. That will help.  They need to throw consistent strikes, then we can win those games.”

Thursday, the Timberwolves took a lead they would never surrender in the bottom of the first on three walks, an error and a single.  They increased the lead by two in the third with a single, a walk, a wild pitch and a double steal.  They added a run in the bottom of the fourth on a walk, a wild pitch and an infield ground out.

When the game resumed Saturday, USM quickly retired the side in the bottom of the fourth on a 6-4-3 double play on the day’s first pitch.  The Wildcats the scored their first run in the top of the fifth inning.  With one out, Nishad Agrawal singled up the middle. Jake Watton then singled, sending Agrawal to third.  The two Wildcats executed a double steal that scored Agrawal.

The Timberwolves added a run in the fifth on a double and an ensuing single before the Wildcats scored two in the sixth.  Jerry Hamedi led off with a base on balls.  Jack Wells then reached first on a fielder’s choice that retired Hamedi.  Joey Judge flied out but Wells advanced to third on a throwing error on the play.  Duncan Brown singled to drive in Wells and took second on the throw.  Billy Lawton singled to score Brown and make the score 6-3.

Living Word Lutheran increased its lead to 8-3 on a double, a walk, a double steal, a fielder’s choice, an error another walk, a hit batter, and another walk.

USM tallied one more run in the top of the seventh.  Billy Miller was hit by a pitch.  He went to second on a passed ball. Agrawal walked.  Watton reached on a fielder’s choice that sent Miller to third.  Greg Trinkl singled to drive in Miller.

USM is now 8-8 and 7-5 in the conference.  The Wildcats travel to Kenosha on Tuesday for a 4:30 p.m. conference game against Kenosha Christian Life.

Score by Innings

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Final

USM

0

0

0

0

1

2

1

 4

LWL

2

0

2

1

1

2

X

 8

USM Batting leaders:

Billy Lawton: AB, 3; Runs, 0; H, 2; RBIs, 1; BB, 0; SO, 1;

Nishad Agrawal; AB, 1; Runs, 1; H, 1; RBIs, 0; BB, 1; SO, 0;

Jake Watton; AB, 3; Runs, 0; H, 1; RBIs, 0; BB, 0; SO, 1;

Greg Trinkl: AB, 3; Runs, 0; H, 1; RBIs, 1; BB, 0; SO, 0;

Duncan Brown: AB, 3; Runs, 1; H, 1; RBIs, 1; BB, 0; SO, 0.

USM Pitching:

David D’Ambrisi: IP, 3.1; H, 3; R, 5; ER, 5; BB 8; K, 5; Loss

Tripp Doheny: IP, 1.2; H, 2; R, 1; ER, 1; BB 0; K, 1; 

Greg Trinkl: IP, 1.0; H, 1; R, 2; ER, 1; BB 3; K, 1.