Wildcat Batters Batter Mayville

The baseball team completed its regular season Tuesday with a 15-5 victory over Mayville on a chilly afternoon at USM.

The Wildcats pounded out 17 hits during the game, but they came from behind to steal the win.

USM scored two runs in the bottom of the second to take a brief lead.  Junior Tommy Pennington led off the inning with a single.  With one out, senior Taylor Schaefer also singled, and junior Patrick Lubar ran for him. Sophomore Billy Lawton then doubled to drive in one run and put runners on second and third.  Senior Jack Minahan grounded out, but drove Lubar in on the play.

The Cardinals rallied in the top of the third to gain a 5-2 lead. Sophomore Tyler Leering led off the inning with a walk.   Senior Tyler Salzman hit a single to put runners on first and second.  Junior Nick Weinberger advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt.  Senior Brandon Schultz singled to drive in Luehring.  Senior RC Lehman doubled to drive in two runs.  Junior Brandon Krapfl singled to drive in Lehman.  Senior Adam Schaefer hit into a fielder’s choice that stopped Krapfl at second.   Schaefer stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored when junior Eric Villwock reached on an error to account for Mayville's fifth run.

The Wildcats overcame the three-run deficit by scoring six runs in the bottom of the inning.   Junior Lane Stanford led off with a single.  Sophomore Nishad Agrawal then singled and junior Josh Baker followed with a single to drive in Stanford.  Agrawal and Baker advanced a base on a wild pitch.  Pennington walked to load the bases.  Junior Nathan Burke hit a long fly to center for a sacrifice fly to score Agrawal.  Lubar grounded to short to drive in Baker and tie the score.  Lawton then hit his second double of the day and Lubar scored.  Minahan singled to make the score 7-5.  Minahan advanced on the throw, took third on a wild pitch, and eventually scored on Stanford’s second single of the inning. 

USM added three runs in the fourth inning on successive singles by Pennington and Burke, a sacrifice bunt by Lubar, another double by Lawton to drive in two runs, and a single by senior Ben Myers to drive in the inning’s third run.

USM scored four runs in the fifth to ice their win.  Singles by Stanford and Agrawal, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly by Baker, two more singles by Pennington and Burke, and a two-run single by Schaefer gave the Wildcats a ten-run lead and put the mercy rule into effect to end the game.

In the game, Lawton got the win in relief for USM.  Weinberger started and took the loss for Mayville.  Lawton also led the USM batters, going three for three with three doubles and 3 RBIs.  Stanford was three for four, Agrawal was three for three, Pennington was two for two, and Schaefer was two for two.

Mayville is now 11-15. USM is 12-12.  The Wildcats start post-season play at 4:30 p.m. on Friday when they take on St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in a Division 2 Regional game at USM.