Wildcats Return to Winning Ways with Victory over Catholic Central

The University School baseball team defeated Burlington Catholic Central 18-7 in a non-conference game at USM Monday.

Before Monday’s game, USM’s head coach Tim Bartz alluded to USM’s first loss of the season the previous Saturday.  “We’re now 0-0.  It’s time for a new streak.”  The Wildcats obliged him with the resounding victory.

USM’s starting pitcher, Patrick Lubar craftily kept Catholic Central’s batters at bay, allowing four runs, only two of which were earned, while giving up five hits and three walks and striking out four during his five innings of work.  Meanwhile his teammates gave him support, scoring nine of their runs in the first four innings.

The Hilltoppers scored one run in the top of the first.  Nolan Girard reached second on a one-out error and scored on Grant Alderman’s single.

USM kept pace, scoring a run in the bottom of the inning. Lane Stanford led off with a walk.  With one out, Josh Baker was hit by a pitch, sending Stanford to second.  Tommy Pennington reached on a fielder’s choice and Stanford went to third.  Then Stanford came home on an error when Pennington stole second.

The Wildcats went ahead in the very next inning using effective small ball tactics.  Nathan Burke led off with a double to right.  Jack Wells was hit by a pitch.  Jake Watton then hit a ground ball behind the runners.  He was out, but USM had runners in scoring position. Nishad Agrawal then dropped a sacrifice bunt down the line to score Burke and put Wells ninety feet from home.  Stanford drove a single between second and first to drive in Wells to make the score 3-1, USM.

Catholic Central edged closer with a run in the third.  Zach Mehring legged out an infield single, stole second and scored on Alderman’s second single of the day.

That was as close as the Hilltoppers got.  The Wildcats increased their lead significantly in the bottom of the third.  Baker led off and reached second on an error.  Pennington doubled, driving in Baker.  Lawton then doubled, driving in Pennington.  With one out Wells reached on an error that put Lawton at third.  Wells stole second.  Once again Watton hit a ground ball behind the runners, advancing Lawton for a run.

The Hilltoppers made it 6-3 in the fourth.  Jake Surges led off with a single, stole second, and went to third on a passed ball.  Brandon Hoffman grounded to second, and Surges scored on the out.

The Wildcats, however, just kept scoring. In the fourth they did it efficiently.  Stanford started it off with a single.  With one out, he went to second on a wild pitch.  Baker walked.  Pennington hit a line drive to the deepest part of centerfield for a triple, and he scored when the throw in went wild.  That made the score 9-3.

Catholic Central took advantage of two USM errors in the top of the fifth to make it 9-4.  The Hilltoppers then made the game close in the following inning when Alderman smacked a three-run homer to right field.

It didn’t seem to worry the Wildcats.  Baker led off the bottom of the sixth.  On the very first pitch he drove a ball over the right field wall, but the umpire ruled it was a foul ball.  So Baker then lined a single to start a nine run rally for USM.  With one out, Baker stole second. Lawton hit an RBI single. Burke doubled to put Lawton at third.  Wells singled to drive in Lawton and send Burke to third.  Wells stole second.  Greg Trinkl pinch hit for Watton and walked to load the bases.  Agrawal then singled to score Burke and Wells and put Trinkl on third.  Agrawal took second on the throw in.  Stanford hit his fourth single of the day to drive in Trinkl and Agrawal. Brown doubled to score Stanford and give USM a 16-7 lead.

That brought Baker back to bat with the foul call on his last at bat still very much in mind.  This time he made sure his hit wasn’t called anything but a homerun. He blasted a shot over the right centerfield fence to give the Wildcats an eleven-run lead and end the game victoriously. 

In the game, Lubar got the win and Catholic Central’s starter, Kross Krueger took the loss.  Alderman led the Hilltoppers at the plate going 3 for 4 with a homerun and 5 RBIs.  For USM, Stanford went 4 for 4 with 3 RBIs;  Lawton was 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs and a double; Pennington went 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs, a double and a triple; Burke went 2 for 4 with 2 doubles; and Baker went 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs and a homerun.

Catholic Central is now 10-13.  The Wildcats started a new winning streak by adding a victory to their 22-1 record.  USM has another non-conference game Tuesday.  The Wildcats will host Martin Luther in a 4:30 p.m. game.