Wildcats move to 3-1 early in season; take down Manchester
It was another winning effort by the Whiteoak Wildcats on Wednesday night, as this time they defeated the Manchester Greyhounds, 8-5 in a game that was moved to WHS, but the home team stayed Manchester.
WHS moves to 3-1 overall with the win, and they are now 1-0 this season in the SHAC Division II standings.
Whiteoak led early on at 1-0 after the first two innings, and in the third it was Whiteoak adding one run, but Manchester answereing with two runs of their own for a 2-2 score after three innings.
The Wildcats regained the lead by collecting five runs in the fourth, then added a run in the top of the fifth for an 8-4 advantage. MHS scored their final run in the ninth inning.
On the mound for the Wildcats, Jacen Applegate was the winning pitcher, throwing five innings and allowing four earned runs on six hits with three walks. He struck out seven batters in the win.
Jonah Michael pitched 1.1 innings, allowing no runs on no hits and two walks. Eli Roberts pitched 0.2 innings, allowing no hits or runs on one walk for his second save of the season.
At the plate, the Wildcats had three batters with two hits each. Those players were Izayah Clift (2-for-3, two runs, a double, one walk, two steals), Zander Roades (2-for-3, three runs, one RBI, one walk, one HBP) and Roberts (2-for-4, one run, one RBI, three steals).
Applegate was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two walks. Also for WHS, Michael collected one run and one walk, and Kaden Moon-Stone had one RBI, a walk and a steal. Camron Storms finished scoring one run, and he was hit by a pitch.
The Wildcats finished the game with seven hits and committed two errors. Manchester totaled six hits and committed two errors.
“Jacen Applegate had a big day for us,” Whiteoak’s OHSBCA Hall of Fame head coach Chris Veidt said. “He pitched five strong innings on the mound and had a clutch two-out, two-run single in the fourth inning.
“Izayah Clift chipped in two hits with a clutch RBI double in the fifth. We showed great resilience offensively in the fourth and defensively in the seventh. The key for us defensively today was our ability to stay out of the big inning. Zander Roades and Eli Roberts added two hits, and Roberts gained his second save of the season, so that was great to see.”
Whiteoak’s Thursday, March 28 SHAC game against North Adams has been postponed to March 29.
BOX SCORE
WHS 101 510 0 — 8 7 2
MHS 002 020 1 — 5 6 2
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