Wildcats' Eight Run Fourth Defeats Kenosha Christian Life

The University School baseball team defeated Kenosha Christian Life 10-6 in a Midwest Classic Conference contest in Kenosha Tuesday.

Coming into the game, the two teams were tied for third place in the conference.  The Wildcats fell behind 5-1 in the early innings.  However, they rallied for 8 runs in the top of the fourth, and behind the solid relief effort of Jake Watton and some good defensive play, they won the game. As a result, USM now stands alone in third place in the conference.

Reviewing the game, USM head coach Tim Bartz said, “It looked pretty bleak for us in the beginning, but in the fourth our bats came alive.  We had seven of our ten hits in that inning alone. We bunted the ball well and put pressure on their defense.  Jake pitched well and our defense was good today to help him out. It was a very good team win.”

The Eagles opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the first on a walk, four straight singles to right field, an error and a passed ball.

The Wildcats answered with one run in the top of the second.  With one out Billy Miller reached second on an error. Nishad Agrawal put down a sacrifice bunt and reached first on it as Miller, like a bull charging a toreador,  slid under a tag at third.  The Wildcats performed a double steal that allowed Miller to score.

The Eagles increased their lead with two more runs in the bottom of the second.  Two walks, a single and an error on the single gave them one run and another error gave them the second run in the inning.

The Wildcats erased KCL’s lead and took complete control of the game scoring eight runs in the top of the fourth.  Billy Lawton singled to right to stat the inning.  Miller then walked.  Agrawal reached on an error that filled the bases.  Greg Trinkl singled to center to score Lawton and Miller.  Joey Pennington bunted for a single to re-load the bases.  John Schwieters went in as a courtesy runner for Pennington.  Watton then lined a single to center that tied the score as Agrawal and Trinkl crossed the plate safely.  Jack Wells bunted to advance Schwieters to third and Austin Heun, who was in as a courtesy runner for Watton, to second. Joey Judge singled to score Schwieters and Heun and give USM the lead. Judge took second on the throw in on the play and then scored on Duncan Brown’s single to left.  Lawton hit his second single of the inning. Like a favorite in the Preakness, Brown raced all the way around the base paths to score USM’s ninth run of the game.

The Wildcats added one more run in the top of the fifth.  Pennington led off with USM’s only extra base hit of the afternoon, a double down the left field line.  He advanced to third on the play.  Watton then drove Pennington home with a grounder to short.

Kenosha Christian Life added on run in the bottom of the seventh, but USM’s second double play in the final three innings ended any further threat and finalized the victory.

USM is now 9-8 and 8-5 in the conference.  The Wildcats head home to face Kenosha Christian Life in a conference game on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.

Score by Innings

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Final

USM

0

1

0

8

1

0

0

10

KCL

3

2

0

0

0

0

1

 6

USM Batting leaders:

Joey Pennington: AB, 3; Runs, 1; H, 2; RBIs, 1; BB, 1; SO, 0; 2B, 1;

Jack Wells: AB, 3; Runs, 0; H, 2; RBIs, 1; BB, 0; SO, 1;

Billy Lawton: AB, 4; Runs, 1; H, 2; RBIs, 1; BB, 0; SO, 1;

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

Greg Trinkl: AB, 4; Runs, 1; H, 1; RBIs, 2; BB, 0; SO, 1;

USM Pitching:

Billy Lawton: IP, 2; H, 4; R, 5; ER, 2; BB 4; K, 3; 

Jake Watton: IP, 5; H, 4; R, 1; ER, 1; BB 3; K, 1; Win.