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The Weimar varsity baseball team had a nearly perfect game to start off last weeks’ competition. Everything came easy for the Wildcats as they did whatever they liked on the offensive end, as well as stifled their opponents with an impressive defensive effort. After a complete effort, the Wildcats finished off their first opponents with a mercy-rule defeat. Weimar’s fortunes changed somewhat at the end of the week against Flatonia as they fell just behind in a competitive game.
Vs Louise, W, 23-1
The Wildcats had everything working for them against the Louise Hornets on Tuesday night. Derek Rees started the game on the mound for the Wildcats and found plenty of success picking apart Louise’s batters and nearly finished with a shutout victory. The defensive fielders behind Rees limited their mistakes and played clean baseball to keep the Hornets offense from getting any momentum. Conversely, the Wildcats’ offense had all of the momentum as Louise could not stop Weimar’s strong hitting night. Brady Henke had the biggest swing of the game with his second home run of the year that helped the Wildcats run up the score. After Louise failed to make any significant progress on the deficit, the officials called the game by a mercy-rule victory at the end of the fourth inning.
Vs Flatonia, L, 6-3
Weimar suffered their first district loss of the season after a relatively rare outcome for the Wildcats as they lost a game in which they outhit their opponents. Weimar had an 8-7 advantage at the plate but could not consistently turn their base runners into scorers as the Bul ldogs’ pitching staff evaded trouble with runners on base.
The Bulldogs got the scoring started with two runs in the second inning. Weimar responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the third to cut the lead in half. Flatonia matched that run with another in the fourth, followed by a big threerun performance in the top of the fifth to take a 6-1 lead. The Wildcats battled back in the sixth inning, scoring two runs to continue to cut into the lead. After holding Flatonia scoreless in the top of the seventh, the Wildcats gave themselves a chance to potentially win in walkoff fashion or force extra innings with a tie. However, Weimar could not find any success at the plate in the bottom of the seventh as they suffered their first district loss in five outings.
Brady Henke took a leading role on both the offense and the defense. Henke got the start on the mound and pitched out four innings of work with four strikeouts. He also had the top hitting night with two hits in his three attempts as well as a team-leading two RBIs. Huxton Kloesel took over for Henke in the fourth and completed the game for the Wildcats.
“I think we competed well tonight,” Head Coach Colton Maiorka said of his team’s performance, “There were some good things I saw and some bad things that we need to clean up... They’re a good program but I expect it to be a different ball game when we go to their place next time around.”
