Varsity baseball team wins both games played this week

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com

The varsity baseball team bounced back from a disappointing performance at Manson-Northwest Webster and used solid hitting, pitching and defense to win a 9-3 conference road game over Collins-Maxwell- Baxter on June 25. The Rams got 11 hits and took advantage of six Raider errors to build a nine run lead before CMB got their offense going in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jordan Challen ripped three singles and drove in two of the runs to lead to offense. Dylan McConnell blasted a triple and a single, and J.C. Weitl connected for a double and a single. Others who contributed singles were Riah Nelsen, Alex Rasmussen, Jordan Hostetler, and Tyler Beger.  McConnell, Weitl, and Nelsen were each credited with one RBI in the game.

Colton Fitzpatrick had another impressive pitching performance giving up five hits and two earned runs, while striking out 13 batters and issuing only three walks. Fitzpatrick’s  pitching record stands at 4-2 for the season. His ERA is 2.10, and he has 37 strikeouts.   

After all the rain on Thursday and early Friday, Allensworth Field was too wet for the scheduled conference baseball game versus South Hamilton on June 27. A make-up date has not been announced for that game. Greene County did get to play one game in the Kuemper Classic on Saturday and got a 7-3 win over Ridge View, which is a high school that serves students in the communities of Galva, Holstein, Nemaha, Early, and Schaller. The Raptors entered the game with a 13-10 record, but the Rams strung together some hits and scored runs in four of the seven innings. Rasmussen led off the second inning with a monster solo home run that easily cleared the fence in left field. Wes Tipton also singled in that inning, but did not score. Beger, Nelsen, Rasmussen, and McConnell all hit singles in the third inning, and the Rams increased their lead to 3-0. Fitzpatrick started the fifth inning with a double, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a deep fly ball to center field by Nelsen. Greene County put up three more runs in the sixth inning on one Raptor error, two walks, singles by Zach Fouch and Fitzpatrick, and a another sacrifice fly by Nelsen.  

Nelsen was the winning pitcher. Riah gave up one earned run and two hits, while striking out four and hitting two batters with pitches. Beger pitched the last three innings and got the save. He struck out two, walked two, gave up three hits and allowed two earned runs.

“We led all the way and hit the ball well,” said coach Mark Sawhill. “We were missing a couple of starters and still had a solid game. Riah and Tyler both did a good job. We only made one error, and that was when we tried to turn a double play. I want the kids to continue to try to make those plays.” The squad was scheduled to meet St. Albert’s of Council Bluffs at 11:00 on Sunday, but the game was cancelled due to wet fields after Saturday night’s rain.

              1    2    3    4    5    6    7    R    H    E
Rams     4    1    1    3    0    0    0    9    11   2
CMB       0    0    0    1    0    2    0    3    5    6

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Rams     0    1    2    0    1    3    0    7    10  1
RV         0    0    0    1    1    1    0    3    5    1