Wildcats Down Dominican 12-4

The undefeated University School baseball team defeated Dominican 12-4 in a rain-shortened Midwest Classic Conference game Tuesday at USM.  Josh Baker’s pitching kept the Knights down, and his grand slam homerun in the bottom of the third broke the game open, leading the Wildcats to victory.

USM took a quick lead over their conference contender, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first.  Lane Stanford led off with a walk and later stole second base.  With one out, Baker was hit by a pitch.  The next USM batter, Tommy Pennington, singled to drive in Stanford and put Baker on second.  Billy Lawton then doubled off the right centerfield fence to score Baker and Pennington.

The Knights scored an unearned run in the top of the second.  Jack Jelacic reached on an error to start the inning.  He went to second on a passed ball, stole third, and scored on O’Shay Sathe’s bunt single. 

Unfazed by their own sloppy play, the Wildcats rallied for three runs after two were out in the bottom of the inning.  With on out, Nishad Agrawal walked.  After another out, Agrawal advanced a base on a wild pitch.  Greg Trinkl walked.  Baker doubled to center to score his two teammates.  Baker made it to third on a wild pitch and scored when Pennington reached on an error.

Dominican closed the scoring gap with two unearned runs in the top of the third.  With one out, Jack Firer walked. Baker recorded another strike out. Firer nearly got picked off, but he scampered back to safety at first during a run-down.  Chris Topp then reached on an error that sent Firer to third.  Connor Schwartz proceeded to single to score Firer. Topp made it to third on an error on the play.  On another pick off play, Schwartz was able to stay in a run down long enough to allow Topp to score before the Wildcats tagged Schwartz out on a 1-3-6-3 play.

The Wildcats just kept scoring.  They made the score 11-3 in the bottom of the inning.  Nathan Burke led off with a walk. Jack Wells’ sacrifice bunt sent Burke to second.  Duncan Brown then singled behind Burke to put Wildcats on first and third.  Agrawal sacrificed Burke to second.  Stanford walked to load the bases.  Trinkl reached on an error that allowed Burke to score and keep the bases loaded with Baker coming to the plate.  On a 2-1 count, Baker drove the ball far over the right field fence for his 11th homer of the year. The clout cleared the bases and doomed Dominican. USM held a commanding 11-3 lead.

As the rain clouds threatened, Baker quickly retired the Knights in top of the fourth, and his teammates scored another run in the second half of the inning. Wells led off with a single and took second on an error on the play.  Brown’s sacrifice bunt put Wells on third and Wells soon scored on a wild pitch.

The rains hailed down, and after the fourth inning was over, the umpires delayed the game for awhile.  After play resumed, the Knights scored their fourth unearned run of the game.  Miller reached second on an error and soon stole third.  With two out, Topp walked and took second on defensive indifference.  Miller then scored on a passed ball on a dropped third strike.

After the half inning ended, the rains resumed and lightning filled the sky.  The umpires met with the coaches.  Since the fifth inning had commenced, and USM had a large lead, they decided to call the game and concede the victory to USM.

In the game, Baker struck out 7, gave up 3 hits, 2 walks and no earned runs to gain the victory.  Max Pignotti, Dominican’s starter took the loss.  Baker led USM at the plate.  He went three for three with a double, a homerun, and 6 RBIs.   Lawton was 1 for 2 with a double and 2 RBIs.

Dominican is now 9-7 overall and 7-6 in the conference.  USM’s record stands at 19-0 and 13-0 in the conference.  The two teams meet again at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday at Simmons Field on Oklahoma Avenue in Milwaukee.