Wildcats roar back with three wins
Peyton Kelly of Blair-Taylor swung on a pitch during their game against Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Friday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
After opening the season with two losses in its first week, the Blair-Taylor baseball team responded with three wins last week.
B-T began the week with a 4-1 win over Caledonia, Minn. on Monday before besting Cochrane-Fountain City, 15-5, on Thursday and Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, 7-4, on Friday.
The Wildcats were in action again this Monday, hosting Onalaska Luther before welcoming Alma Center Lincoln on Tuesday. B-T will play its first road game of the season on Friday when the team plays at Pepin/Alma. This coming Tuesday, B-T hosts Augusta and plays at AC Lincoln next Thursday.
B-T 4 Caledonia 1
The Wildcats got a strong outing from Tavian Shramek in the win.
Shramek struck out 14 batters while allowing two hits and two walks in six innings. He also scored B-T’s first run on an RBI single by Kole Trapp in the bottom of the third. Peyton Kelly added an RBI hit later in the inning to put B-T ahead 2-0.
An RBI single by Ryan Oldendorf put B-T ahead by three runs before the Warriors scored one on a fielder’s choice in the sixth. The Wildcats got that run back in the bottom half of the inning.
B-T had six hits in the game with six different players getting one.
B-T 15 C-FC 5
The Wildcats offense exploded late to pull away with a 10-run win.
The Pirates struck early with four runs in the top of the first, but B-T responded with three in the bottom half of the inning.
The teams exchanged runs over the next few innings before B-T scored eight in the bottom of the fifth to take control. The Wildcats got an RBI single from Kyle Jahr and a double by Kelly brought three runs home.
Jahr added an RBI single in the sixth and Brayden Paulson ended the game with a two-run home run.
Jahr, Kelly and Shramek all had two hits in the game. Kelly batted in three runs while Paulson, Brady Thompson and Jahr had two RBIs.
Brady Thompson got the win, striking out six while allowing seven hits and three walks in the game. Three of the runs were unearned.
B-T 7 ECIL 4
A three-run blast by Paulson broke a tie and gave the Wildcats a win on Friday.
B-T scored the first three runs in the game, but the Lancers plated four runs in the top of the fifth. B-T tied the game with one in the bottom half of that inning.
Pettis and Austin Olson singled to start the sixth before the next two batters flew out. That brought up Paulson, who sent a 3-1 pitch over the center field fence to give the Wildcats the lead.
The Lancers got one runner on in the top of the seventh, but two groundouts and a flyout ended the game.
B-T took the lead on an RBI single by Kelly in the first. Olson singled in two runs in the fourth to put B-T ahead 3-0.
Shramek pitched the first four innings, striking out 10 without allowing a hit, but left the game after that. B-T saw immediate trouble as Kelly walked two batters and allowed a double. Three straight walks tied the game before a single put the Lancers ahead, 4-3. Kelly was replaced on the mound by Ty Tranberg after the second bases-loaded walk. Tranberg finished the game striking out two while allowing one walk and one hit in 2.1 innings.
Paulson singled to start the bottom of the fifth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brady Thompson.
Paulson, Olson and Kelly all had two hits in the game, Olson batted in two runs and Paulson brought three home.
