Aggressive Wildcats pounce Dragons
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — Two games and two wins for the Whiteoak Wildcats perfectly describes the start to their 2014 regular season. In game two of the spring, the Wildcats had to battle, hold on but then break away for a 7-4 win Tuesday against the West Union Dragons.
The home opening win for the Wildcats was also a Southern Hills Athletic Conference victory, moving them to 1-0 in conference play and 2-0 overall.
WHS had to battle some pitching struggles early on as they walked six of the first 12 WU batters in the first two innings, resulting in two runs for the visiting Dragons.
A big part of keeping the Dragons' score so low was the relief pitching of senior Justin Emery. Emery entered the game four batters into the second inning with no outs, down two runs, as the first four batters were walked in the second.
Emery not only got out of the inning by keeping WU from adding more runs, he did it in dominating fashion by striking out the next three batters, the Dragons' 1-3 hitters in the lineup. Emery was credited with the win on the mound. In five innings pitched, the senior struck out nine batters.
"We brought in Justin in, and he slammed the door," WHS head coach Chris Veidt said. "He struck out the side, so that's impressive.
"With baseball, it's not like there's a time clock and you can sit on it. With Justin doing that, (West Union) had a lot of opportunities to score early and they couldn't come up with the clutch hit, and a lot of that had to do with him."
The no-decision went to Tyler Williams.
In that same span of time the host Wildcats also scored two runs, both in the second inning, for a 2-2 tie.
The WHS second began with Williams leading off with a full-count double, followed by an RBI single off the bat of Jason Jones as he trailed in the count 0-1. From there, with one out, Steven Meyers gained a full-count base hit and then stole second base.
Veidt spoke about the aggressiveness of his ball club.
"It's pretty much our mindset every year," Veidt said of their aggressiveness. "We post in the dugout 'apply pressure,' in every pitch, every at-bat, every game. If you make the other team pitch or catch under pressure, usually they're going to make mistakes.
"The guys did a nice job with that. Tyler Williams, obviously it wasn't his day from the mound, but he did a nice job of coming back there and had two hits for us after we took him out and made a great defensive play in centerfield as well. His day wasn't over when he left the mound, and that was good to see."
Later in the inning, Jacob Burns singled and stole second, while Jones eventually crossed home plate to tie the score at two.
In the third, Nick Wardlow and Williams scored runs, with Williams batting in Wardlow on an base hit. Wardlow initially reached the bases on a walk.
WHS added three more runs in the final innings for their three-run win, with Stephen Anderson scoring one of those runs. Emery helped bring the runners around.
"Justin offensively, my goodness he was big," Veidt said. "He had a couple hits for us in clutch situations and they pretty much belonged to him. He had a lot of help obviously, but that's just a senior being a senior and showing leadership."
The WHS head coach was impressed in how his team didn't fold and faced the adversity head-on.
"It was good to see them not hang their heads and come back, especially offensively," Veidt said. "To take the lead early and then once they closed the gap back to one, we did a little add-on there. That's a true test for a team, especially early, coming back and finding a way to win when the chips are down.
"(Tuesday) was a little bit different and from a coach's perspective good to see because there was adversity, but they overcame it. That's huge for any team."
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The home opening win for the Wildcats was also a Southern Hills Athletic Conference victory, moving them to 1-0 in conference play and 2-0 overall.
WHS had to battle some pitching struggles early on as they walked six of the first 12 WU batters in the first two innings, resulting in two runs for the visiting Dragons.
A big part of keeping the Dragons' score so low was the relief pitching of senior Justin Emery. Emery entered the game four batters into the second inning with no outs, down two runs, as the first four batters were walked in the second.
Emery not only got out of the inning by keeping WU from adding more runs, he did it in dominating fashion by striking out the next three batters, the Dragons' 1-3 hitters in the lineup. Emery was credited with the win on the mound. In five innings pitched, the senior struck out nine batters.
"We brought in Justin in, and he slammed the door," WHS head coach Chris Veidt said. "He struck out the side, so that's impressive.
"With baseball, it's not like there's a time clock and you can sit on it. With Justin doing that, (West Union) had a lot of opportunities to score early and they couldn't come up with the clutch hit, and a lot of that had to do with him."
The no-decision went to Tyler Williams.
In that same span of time the host Wildcats also scored two runs, both in the second inning, for a 2-2 tie.
The WHS second began with Williams leading off with a full-count double, followed by an RBI single off the bat of Jason Jones as he trailed in the count 0-1. From there, with one out, Steven Meyers gained a full-count base hit and then stole second base.
Veidt spoke about the aggressiveness of his ball club.
"It's pretty much our mindset every year," Veidt said of their aggressiveness. "We post in the dugout 'apply pressure,' in every pitch, every at-bat, every game. If you make the other team pitch or catch under pressure, usually they're going to make mistakes.
"The guys did a nice job with that. Tyler Williams, obviously it wasn't his day from the mound, but he did a nice job of coming back there and had two hits for us after we took him out and made a great defensive play in centerfield as well. His day wasn't over when he left the mound, and that was good to see."
Later in the inning, Jacob Burns singled and stole second, while Jones eventually crossed home plate to tie the score at two.
In the third, Nick Wardlow and Williams scored runs, with Williams batting in Wardlow on an base hit. Wardlow initially reached the bases on a walk.
WHS added three more runs in the final innings for their three-run win, with Stephen Anderson scoring one of those runs. Emery helped bring the runners around.
"Justin offensively, my goodness he was big," Veidt said. "He had a couple hits for us in clutch situations and they pretty much belonged to him. He had a lot of help obviously, but that's just a senior being a senior and showing leadership."
The WHS head coach was impressed in how his team didn't fold and faced the adversity head-on.
"It was good to see them not hang their heads and come back, especially offensively," Veidt said. "To take the lead early and then once they closed the gap back to one, we did a little add-on there. That's a true test for a team, especially early, coming back and finding a way to win when the chips are down.
"(Tuesday) was a little bit different and from a coach's perspective good to see because there was adversity, but they overcame it. That's huge for any team."
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