Wildcats Win on No-Hitter

Billy Lawton pitched a no-hitter as the University School baseball team defeated St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy 10-0 in five innings in a Midwest Classic Conference game at USM Tuesday afternoon.

Lawton, a senior struck out 14 batters.  The Lancers only batted one ball into play, a ground out to USM’s first baseman Duncan Brown to end the top of the second. Meanwhile, the Wildcats had 9 hits, 4 walks, and they stole 17 bases on the way to their second-straight win via the ten-run rule.

After the game Lawton said, “I just went out and threw strikes.  My fastball was working for strikes and my curveball and change-up kept them guessing.  Everything was working today.  It was nice to get another win. We can win if we throw strikes.”

USM’s head coach Tim Bartz concurred, “We played a complete game today.  Our bunting was working, we stole lots of bases, and we put runs across the board.  Billy was dominant.  He just threw strikes.”

The Wildcats got all the runs they would need in the bottom of the first inning.  Jack Wells led off and reached on an error.  He then stole second and third base.  He came home on Joey Judge’s grounder to third.

USM added four runs in the bottom of the third.  With one out, Judge hit a ground ball between the third baseman and shortstop for a single.  He promptly stole second and third.  Duncan Brown dropped a bunt along the third base line for a single.  Judge raced home on the play.  Brown stole second and came home on Lawton’s double.  Austin Heun went in as a courtesy runner.  He slid under the tag for a steal third.   Nishad Agrawal then dropped a sacrifice bunt along the first base line to score Heun.  Tripp Doheny single through the box.  He stole second then a pitch later went to third on a passed ball.  Doheny then scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-0.

USM sealed the victory with five runs in the bottom of the fifth.  Lawton led off with a walk.  Heun ran for him again.  Heun went to second on a wild pitch and then stole third.  He came home on a throwing error on the attempt to stop his steal.  Agrawal then walked and stole second.  Doheny grounded out to advance Agrawal to third. With David D’Ambrisi at bat, Agrawal then stole home. D’Ambrisi then reached first on an error. He stole second and came home on John Schwieters’ double to left.  Schwieters went to third on the throw to the plate. He then scampered home on a throwing error on an attempt to get him at third.  With one out, Wells and Judge each singled to put runners at the corners.  Brown then doubled to score Wells and give the Wildcats the 10-0 win.

USM is now 2-6 and 1-3 in the conference.  The Wildcats play another conference game at 5:00 on Wednesday when they travel to Lake Country Lutheran in Hartland.

Score by Innings

1

2

3

4

5

Final

SJNMA

0

0

0

0

0

 0

USM

1

0

4

0

5

10

USM Batting leaders:

Joey Judge: AB, 4; Runs, 1; H, 3; RBIs, 1; BB, 0; SO, 0; 2B, 1.

Duncan Brown: AB, 3; Runs, 1; H, 2; RBIs, 2; BB, 1; SO, 0; 2B, 1;

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

John Schwieters: AB, 3; Runs, 1; H, 1; RBIs, 1; BB, 1; SO, 1; 2B, 1;

USM Pitching:

Billy Lawton: IP, 5; H, 0; R, 0; ER, 0; BB 2; K, 14; Win