MOWRYSTOWN, Ohio — The Whiteoak Wildcats varsity Baseball team hosted the Miami Trace Panthers on Wednesday at Whiteoak High School in a non league post season tune up game that turned into a marathon 11 inning affair that was called for darkness with the score tied at 6-6.
The Panthers came out hot in the first inning when they sent seven batters to the plate against the Wildcats and put up three runs to take a 3-0 lead.
Connor Bucher got things started with a lead off double and Cody Brightman followed up two batters later with a single to put runners on first and third for the Panthers.
After the second out of the inning on a fly ball to center field Josh Gilmore singled to drive in Bucher and Luke Henry doubled in the following at bat to plate Brightman and Gilmore.
After a quiet second inning the Panthers added a fourth run when Henry doubled again to drive in Dalton Mayer, who had doubled earlier in the inning, and propel MT to a 4-0 lead.
The Wildcats finally got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Ryan Roberts scored on an error during the at bat of Mason Lehr to make it 4-1 after three innings.
After quiet innings in the fourth and the fifth the Wildcats scored again in the bottom of the sixth inning when Traeton Hamilton, who singled to lead off the inning, scored on a fielder’s choice that saw Hamilton safe at home and Lehr out at first base.
A two out rally in the bottom of the seventh inning saw Hamilton and Zach Harless single and double in back-to-back at bats with Harless driving in Hamilton with the double. Harless scored in the next at bat when Mason Lehr doubled and plated Harless to tie the game at 4-4.
Evan Brill had a chance to end the game but struck out in the five hole to force extra innings.
Each team added a run in the ninth inning and tenth inning to propel the game towards darkness entering the eleventh inning.
A scoreless eleventh inning that saw each team retired in order forced the game to be called due to darkness with the score tied at six runs apiece.
vs Portsmouth Clay
The Wildcats took on Clay High School on Monday at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe and rallied over the final four innings to come away with a quality 5-4 non-league win.
“Impressive team win today. Down early, grinded out at bats, battled with two strikes, threw and caught very well and Evan was Evan. No walks, one ball hit decent and that was in the first. He’s a gamer,” said Whiteoak Head Coach Chris Veidt. “Chase Butler and Ryan Roberts were huge for us offensively tonight. Ryan,s ability to apply pressure on the base paths ultimately won us the game with his aggressive decision to steal third and force the throwing error. Ty Large closed with two big ABs. Good to see him adjust at bat to at bat. Big program win against a State Ranked opponent. These guys thrive in games like this.”
Clay scored two runs in the top of the first one in the third and one in the sixth to account for their runs on the day.
Whiteoak scored one run in the fourth one in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh to pull out the hard fought 5-4 win.
Ryan Applegate is the Sports Editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
