Wildcats top Greyhounds for SHL win
Lead Summary
By
The Highland County Press-
MOWRYSTOWN — Behind 12 strikeouts from Luke Taggert, along with two late-inning runs, the Whiteoak Wildcats secured another Southern Hills League victory Friday evening, defeating the Manchester Greyhounds, 5-3 at WHS.
The win puts WHS at 6-1 in the league and 10-5 overall. They are currently in a first-place tie in Division II of the SHL with Fayetteville, who defeated Eastern Brown Friday, 12-4.
"As a group battling for a league championship, we need to realize that every SHL game could be the game that decides the league crown," WHS head coach Chris Veidt said. "Really, it's going to come down to how we perform as a group and not who we play.
"We need to focus on controlling what we can control. These next two weeks and the one past with three league encounters (a week) will be the key to our season."
For the Wildcats on Friday, they ended the first inning in a 2-2 tie with the Greyhounds but took a 3-2 advantage with one run in the second inning.
As the score was tied at 3-3 following the completion of the third inning, WHS scored one run each in the fourth and fifth inning, enough for the league win.
[[In-content Ad]]On the mound, Taggert pitched seven innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk. He struck out the aforementioned 12 batters.
"Luke settled down very nicely the last four innings after a rocky beginning," Veidt said.
At the plate for WHS, Michael Smith was 1-for-4 with one RBI. Gage Carraher finished 1-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Doc Seip was 1-for-3 with one RBI, and Justin Emery was 1-for-3 with a double, one run and one RBI.
"Justin's RBI double in the fourth and Jesse Bradds' sacrifice fly in the fifth were the key hits for us," Veidt said.
WHS will play again on Tuesday when they host Ripley at 5 p.m.
BOX SCORE
MHS 201 000 0 — 3
WHS 210 110 x — 5
The win puts WHS at 6-1 in the league and 10-5 overall. They are currently in a first-place tie in Division II of the SHL with Fayetteville, who defeated Eastern Brown Friday, 12-4.
"As a group battling for a league championship, we need to realize that every SHL game could be the game that decides the league crown," WHS head coach Chris Veidt said. "Really, it's going to come down to how we perform as a group and not who we play.
"We need to focus on controlling what we can control. These next two weeks and the one past with three league encounters (a week) will be the key to our season."
For the Wildcats on Friday, they ended the first inning in a 2-2 tie with the Greyhounds but took a 3-2 advantage with one run in the second inning.
As the score was tied at 3-3 following the completion of the third inning, WHS scored one run each in the fourth and fifth inning, enough for the league win.
[[In-content Ad]]On the mound, Taggert pitched seven innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk. He struck out the aforementioned 12 batters.
"Luke settled down very nicely the last four innings after a rocky beginning," Veidt said.
At the plate for WHS, Michael Smith was 1-for-4 with one RBI. Gage Carraher finished 1-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Doc Seip was 1-for-3 with one RBI, and Justin Emery was 1-for-3 with a double, one run and one RBI.
"Justin's RBI double in the fourth and Jesse Bradds' sacrifice fly in the fifth were the key hits for us," Veidt said.
WHS will play again on Tuesday when they host Ripley at 5 p.m.
BOX SCORE
MHS 201 000 0 — 3
WHS 210 110 x — 5