WALKER, Mo. — The McAuley Catholic Warriors scored nine runs in the first inning and 10 more in the fifth on their way to a 22-4 run-rule win in five innings against the host Northeast Vernon County Knights on Wednesday.
The Warriors accumulated 14 hits, highlighted by nine doubles, and capitalized on 10 Northeast Vernon County errors.
McAuley Catholic pitchers Tripp Miller, Trey Martinez, and Kable Reichardt split mound time with each pitcher on a pitch count of 30 because the Warriors are slated to return to action, weather permitting, Thursday against Liberal.
“Our kids came out ready to play and hit,” McAuley Catholic coach Bryan Jones said. “That’s one thing we talk about is having a good approach. They gave us some extra opportunities and our kids took advantage of it.
“Being that we have so many games together right before districts, we had everybody on a pitch count. That’s why we had three guys. We possibly could have got the game over with quicker. We did barrel some balls that went right to people. Otherwise, we keep hitting in those other innings, but that’s the way it works.
“These guys, at this age, they get up a little bit and it is easy for them to think ‘Oh, we got this.’ We had to refocus them and say, ‘Let’s get our job done.’ Being that we are on pitch counts, we need to make sure that we do our job on offense as well as defense. They did a good job of staying focused.”
McAuley Catholic scored three runs in the second and the Warriors failed to score in the third and fourth innings as they only sent seven batters to the plate during a game in which they batted around in two innings.
Joe Staton led the Warriors’ 14-hit attack with three and Rocco Bazzano-Joseph, Noah Black, Michael Parrigon and Brek Sickman each had two, while Case Richards, Kendall Jones, and Chase Gardner each added one hit to the collective tally.
Staton, Black, and Parrigon each doubled twice and Bazzano-Joseph, Richards and Sickman each reached second base once on a hard-hit baseball.
The Warriors ran at will on the bases against Northeast Vernon County with 22 runs scored and 15 stolen bases.
Staton, Bazzano-Joseph, Black, Richards and courtesy runner Dylan Taffner each scored three runs and Staton had four steals, Bazzano-Joseph had three, and Richards, Jones and Parrigon each had two.
Bradley Wagner reached base twice on a hit-by-pitch and a third time working a walk.
Miller earned the win and allowed two runs (both earned) on two hits over two innings with two strikeouts and one walk, Martinez allowed two runs (both unearned) on five hits over 2 1/3 innings with two strikeouts and no walks and Reichardt pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts and no walks.
Both Martinez and Reichardt earned the distinction of their first pitch being good for a strikeout — as Martinez entered on a 3-2 count and Reichardt on a 0-2 count.
McAuley Catholic enters the game Thursday against Liberal with a 8-10 overall record, including three straight wins and wins in five of the last seven.
The Bulldogs of Liberal, meanwhile, have won 9 of their last 10 with their only loss coming against an unbeaten Frontenac (Kansas) team.
“They are a good team and hopefully we can get the game in due to weather,” Jones said. “It looks like we might have some weather coming in, but yeah, they’re in a different district than we’re in … typically, though, it’s a battle. Look forward to hopefully getting our game in.”
