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Thursday, July 3, 2008
BCLUW sinks Trojans, but falls to Cougars
Staff Photo By Sam Martin
Adam Probasco slides under Sumner-Fredericksburg third baseman Gage Mohs after a first inning triple on June 28. Looking on are Comet head coach Josh Christensen and Cougar pitcher Patrick Kleman.
By Sam Martin
The Record Sports
As the regular season winds down, it’s clear that the potent Comet bats are ready for a postseason run. In 27 games this season, the Comets have scored 266 runs, just under 10 runs per game, while allowing 190.
Now, it’s up to the defense and pitching to help carry the load for what BCLUW fans are hoping is a long trip through the postseason bracket.
The offense was out in full effect at the Comets’ tournament on June 28, but a lapse in defense resulted in a weekend split — a 7-4 win over West Marshall and a 13-10 loss to Sumner-Fredericksburg.
The Comets jumped out early against the Trojans and never flinched. Three first inning runs, highlights by a two-run single from Nick Hutchens helped BCLUW grab the early lead. They tacked on two more in the third and one in the fourth inning after West Marshall got on the board with its first run of the game.
“We jumped on them early and held the lead the whole way,” said head coach Josh Christensen. “Any time they scored we found a way to answer back.”
Austin Krause helped out with a complete game on the mound, giving up eight hits and allowing four runs, two earned, while striking out eight and walking two.
“Austin did excellent,” Christensen said. “He’s been throwing great — at East Marshall, at Gladbrook-Reinbeck, then again today. He’s being getting us ground balls and we’ve been able to make plays for the most part behind him.”
Hutchens, Wade Morris and Adam Probasco all collected two hits apiece, while Morris and Hutchens had two knocked in.
In the second game, two Comet errors led to a six-run third inning for Sumner-Fredericksburg as they took a 9-6 lead.
The Comets answered with a four-run fourth inning, including a mammoth three-run blast from Shane Kruse that easily cleared the flagpole beyond the center field fence.
“That was a huge home run,especially to knot the game up at 9,” Christensen said. “But then we come out in the very next inning and give up some stuff with free base runners. It’s great to hit home runs and hit them far, but they’re always worth the same and you still have to play defense.
“Ten runs needs to be enough for us to win a ballgame and in the second game it just wasn’t.”
Christensen pointed to a shoddy defense that struggled to support starter Luke Erbes, who went five innings and struck out two.
“Luke pitched great,” he said. “If you look at the book, he threw 21 outs in his five innings. Our problem was we didn’t help him out at all — it took a mound visit for us to focus in and play good defense. That’s something that we got to do straight out of the gate. We got complacent, and that’s really the first time it’s happened to us all year, which is kind of scary.”
The Cougars plated two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings, and brought in Nolan Nuss in the fifth to ensure the victory. He silenced the hot-hitting BCLUW bats, striking out the first six batters he saw, and seven of the nine he faced. Nuss didn’t allow any base runners in his three innings of work and hurt the Comets at the plate as well, going 3-for-5 with a double and five RBIs.
The Comets have three regular season games remaining — a road game against AGWSR, and home contests with North Tama and La Porte City-Union. Christensen said he feels good about where his team is at as they gear up for the postseason. Their first district game is Saturday in Grundy Center, a re-match with AGWSR.
“We’re fully capable of being successful no matter what the situation,” Christensen said. “We’re ready for districts.”