.gif)
WIMBERLY – The Columbus Cardinals baseball team kept their postseason alive after competing in a three-game series with the Lytle Pirates as the teams vied for the Area Championship and a spot in the regional tournament portion of the playoffs. Recent history for Columbus had not been kind to the Cards in the area round as Columbus had not moved on past that round for the past 17 years. Columbus finally got their breakthrough this year as they had a dominating effort against the Pirates. Pitching and defense set the tone for the Cards as they did not allow a single run in a two-game sweep to claim their first Area Championship in nearly two decades. Now the Cards move on to face a familiar foe as they take on the Industrial Cobras for Columbus’ third match this season against their district rivals. The two teams split their district season matchups with one win apiece.
Game 1, W, 2-0
The first game of the series featured a high-class defensive effort by the Cards as they found just enough timely hitting to take a slight advantage over the Pirates. Columbus opened the scoring in the second inning with a single run before adding another in the fifth inning that served as the only scoring from either team in game one. The Cards offense had a decent day at the plate, picking up five hits to the Pirates’ one hit. Columbus once again showed off their plate vision and discipline as they combined to draw seven walks against the Lytle pitching staff. Josh Everett and Trevor Berger provided the plays that brought in scores as Everett picked up an RBI single and Berger secured an RBI on a sacrifice bunt.
A key element to the Cards’ victory was the pitching performance by Dylan Zajicek as well as the defenders on the field behind him. Zajicek pitched all seven innings while conceding only a single hit and a single walk against the Pirates. He also racked up nine strikeouts as he helped stifle the Lytle batters. It helped that the Cards played their ideal game defensively as well as the fielders had no errors in the game.
Game 2, W, 10-0
While the Cards’ defensive effort stayed at a high level, their hitting and offense finally caught up to their production on the other side as they finished off the Pirates with a dominant effort on both sides of the ball. They got out to a much hotter start in their second game, scoring four runs in the first inning to create an imposing lead for a Lytle offense that struggled in the area round. The Columbus offense did not have similar issues as they nearly notched double-digit hits with nine in the game. They did most of their damage in the first inning until the top of the seventh when the Cards scored a game-high five runs to push the game to its final margin.
Conner Geisler and Nathan Beane made significant contributions to the offense with two hits each to lead the team as well as combining for three RBIs. Geisler’s two RBIs led the team in that category. Ryan Lewis and Josh Everett made it on base often for the Cards as they drew two walks each.
The Cards once again relied on their pitching and defense to stifle the Pirates and complete the series shutout victory. Kaleb Kuhn took the mound and pitched a complete game with five strikeouts and allowed just two hits.
