Wildcats ride timely hitting, pitching for SHAC win
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — The Whiteoak Wildcats did all their scoring in the first inning and from there relied on pitching, defense and a little luck going their way for their second Southern Hills Athletic Conference win of the season, defeating the Eastern Brown Warriors, 2-1.
"The thing about this game was the final batter Gage (Carraher) faced," Whiteoak head coach Chris Veidt said. "He was tiring, but he went back to the stuff he had in the first inning.
"His curve ball was on, and he did this against their cleanup hitter. He wasn't going to be able to pitch in the eighth, so he took in it into his own hands at the end."
More on the pitching later, as it was the early runs by WHS that kept them in the lead for the entire duration of the game.
Thursday's win by WHS came about in the first inning as a base hit by Tyler Williams (on a 2-1 count) brought home Luke Taggert for the first run of the game, as Williams had the lone Wildcat RBI.
Taggert first took to the bases with a lead-off walk on five pitches. Zach Docter followed by reaching first after being hit by a pitch on the second pitch of the at-bat. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and the hit by Williams occurred with two outs.
The second run scored on an infield error, then Williams stole third. Kyle Marler also had a walk in the inning.
"Tyler's two-out hit was big," Veidt said. "That was big for us."
With all the Wildcats' scoring over for the game, they turned to Carraher, a multiple pitching record holder already at WHS, to send them to victory … and that is what happened.
Carraher, who totaled 115 pitches, followed a three-strikeout first inning (he faced four batters) with a second inning of one strikeout, a ground ball out and a fielder's choice out.
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For the game, Carraher allowed one earned run on three hits (all singles) and five walks. The senior struck out 12.
In the third, just the fourth base runner of the game reached first on a single, but again, for the third consecutive time, Carraher ended the inning with a strikeout, giving him five through three innings.
In the fourth, the senior hurler struck out two and walked two, but this time a fly ball out hit to centerfielder Justin Emery ended the inning, keeping the score 2-0. In the fifth, Carraher faced four batters, as he added another strikeout to his tally, but the inning also saw the Warriors cut the Wildcat lead in half with a run crossing the plate.
The toughest inning for WHS came in the sixth, as the Warriors had their best opportunity to tie or take the lead. EB loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, with the first out coming with a call at the plate off a throw from the outfield.
The second out of the sixth also was a call at the plate, this time with Jason Jones (the catcher) retrieving a wild pitch and tossing the ball to Carraher, who tagged out the runner, keeping the one-run lead. Again, like he did three previous times, Carraher regrouped and ended the inning with a called third strike.
"We had clutch plays in the sixth inning," Veidt said. "Those plays were made after we made mistakes earlier in the inning. The guys didn't keep their heads down; rather, they wanted the ball hit back to them, and they responded by righting the ship."
In the seventh, after the first out was recorded on a ground ball to first baseman Jesse Bradds, Eastern had another shot to tie the score or take the lead with runners taking the bases on a walk and infield error.
Carraher didn't budge as he went back to his first inning form with a called third strike for out two, and against the cleanup hitter of EB, he forced the swinging strikeout to end the game on a four-pitch sequence of consecutive curveballs, a fastball and back to a curveball to seal the win.
The loss went to Bunch of Eastern, as he totaled nine strikeouts on the day. Bunch struck out the side in the fourth and had two-strikeout innings in the first and sixth. He allowed just three hits and walked three.
WHS plays again on Saturday in a doubleheader at Northwest. Next Tuesday, the Wildcats travel to West Union in SHAC play, and on Thursday, April 9, WHS travels to face Fairfield and WHS will take on Ripley the following day, all three being SHAC games.
"The thing about this game was the final batter Gage (Carraher) faced," Whiteoak head coach Chris Veidt said. "He was tiring, but he went back to the stuff he had in the first inning.
"His curve ball was on, and he did this against their cleanup hitter. He wasn't going to be able to pitch in the eighth, so he took in it into his own hands at the end."
More on the pitching later, as it was the early runs by WHS that kept them in the lead for the entire duration of the game.
Thursday's win by WHS came about in the first inning as a base hit by Tyler Williams (on a 2-1 count) brought home Luke Taggert for the first run of the game, as Williams had the lone Wildcat RBI.
Taggert first took to the bases with a lead-off walk on five pitches. Zach Docter followed by reaching first after being hit by a pitch on the second pitch of the at-bat. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and the hit by Williams occurred with two outs.
The second run scored on an infield error, then Williams stole third. Kyle Marler also had a walk in the inning.
"Tyler's two-out hit was big," Veidt said. "That was big for us."
With all the Wildcats' scoring over for the game, they turned to Carraher, a multiple pitching record holder already at WHS, to send them to victory … and that is what happened.
Carraher, who totaled 115 pitches, followed a three-strikeout first inning (he faced four batters) with a second inning of one strikeout, a ground ball out and a fielder's choice out.
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For the game, Carraher allowed one earned run on three hits (all singles) and five walks. The senior struck out 12.
In the third, just the fourth base runner of the game reached first on a single, but again, for the third consecutive time, Carraher ended the inning with a strikeout, giving him five through three innings.
In the fourth, the senior hurler struck out two and walked two, but this time a fly ball out hit to centerfielder Justin Emery ended the inning, keeping the score 2-0. In the fifth, Carraher faced four batters, as he added another strikeout to his tally, but the inning also saw the Warriors cut the Wildcat lead in half with a run crossing the plate.
The toughest inning for WHS came in the sixth, as the Warriors had their best opportunity to tie or take the lead. EB loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, with the first out coming with a call at the plate off a throw from the outfield.
The second out of the sixth also was a call at the plate, this time with Jason Jones (the catcher) retrieving a wild pitch and tossing the ball to Carraher, who tagged out the runner, keeping the one-run lead. Again, like he did three previous times, Carraher regrouped and ended the inning with a called third strike.
"We had clutch plays in the sixth inning," Veidt said. "Those plays were made after we made mistakes earlier in the inning. The guys didn't keep their heads down; rather, they wanted the ball hit back to them, and they responded by righting the ship."
In the seventh, after the first out was recorded on a ground ball to first baseman Jesse Bradds, Eastern had another shot to tie the score or take the lead with runners taking the bases on a walk and infield error.
Carraher didn't budge as he went back to his first inning form with a called third strike for out two, and against the cleanup hitter of EB, he forced the swinging strikeout to end the game on a four-pitch sequence of consecutive curveballs, a fastball and back to a curveball to seal the win.
The loss went to Bunch of Eastern, as he totaled nine strikeouts on the day. Bunch struck out the side in the fourth and had two-strikeout innings in the first and sixth. He allowed just three hits and walked three.
WHS plays again on Saturday in a doubleheader at Northwest. Next Tuesday, the Wildcats travel to West Union in SHAC play, and on Thursday, April 9, WHS travels to face Fairfield and WHS will take on Ripley the following day, all three being SHAC games.