Wildcats Whip Wayland Again

Senior pitcher Josh Baker struck out seven and allowed one hit in four innings, and for the second game in a row the University School batters clubbed the Wayland Academy pitchers en route to a five inning 11-0 victory in a Midwest Classic Conference North game Thursday in Beaver Dam.

Tuesday USM beat Wayland 10-0, and the Wildcats picked up right where they left off by scoring five runs in the top of Thursday's first inning. 

With one out, senior Nathan Burke and Baker both worked walks off of Wayland senior Ryan Hayes who was starting his second game in less than 48 hours. A passed ball put the USM runners at second and third. Junior Billy Lawton then doubled to drive in the runners. After senior Patrick Lubar walked, sophomore Duncan Brown lined a sharp single to center to score Lawton and Lubar, and Brown took second on the throw in.  Sophomore Greg Trinkl drove in Brown with another single to make the score 5-0.

The Wildcats resumed their scoring in the top of the third.  Senior Tommy Pennington led off with a single off of Wayland's first reliever Luke Bacci, and, with a 2-0 count on Lawton, Pennington stole second. He then stole third on the ball-four pitch to Lawton to give USM runners poised to score at the corners. Lubar singled to score Pennington.  Brown grounded into a fielder's choice that erased Lubar and put Lawton on third.  Brown stole second, then Trinkl hit his second RBI single. Sophomore Jack Wells followed with another single, sending Trinkl to third.  USM's coach Tim Bartz signaled for a double steal and Wells and Trinkl executed it as Wells swiped second and Trinkl raced home when the throw went to second base. Two wild pitches later, Wells slid across the plate to give the Wildcats a ten-run lead, enough to foreshorten the game if the Wildcats could hold it through five innings.

Baker’s pitching maintained dominion in the bottom of the third.  Baker also started off the fourth by reaching on an error.  With two out he stole second and ran home on Lubar's single to increase USM's lead by one.

Baker continued the shutout by pitching a scoreless fourth inning, and Burke came on in relief in the fifth, struck out two, and sealed the victory.

Baker was the winning pitcher and Hayes lost his second game of the season.

In the game, Trinkl and Lubar were both 2 for 2 with 2 RBIs. Lawton went 1 for 1 with 2 RBIs and a double.

Wayland is now 0-2 overall and in the conference while USM improved its overall and conference record to 2-0. The Wildcats resume conference play at 4:30 on Tuesday, April 10th when they face Messmer at Simmons Field.