By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
The Merrill baseball team took care of business at Athletic Park Saturday, 10-run-ruling the Ashland Oredockers in six innings.
Ashland got the early lead on Merrill, scoring one run in the top of the first inning, however the Bluejays would respond with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first. A single by Mason Smith and a walk to Adam Detert set up Kordell Renken for a two RBI double to left field, Renken would be thrown out at third base trying to leg out a triple. Ashland responded quickly with one run in the top of the second inning to tie the game at 2-2.
In the bottom of the second inning Merrill exploded for five runs to take a 7-2 lead. A wild pitch with runners on second and third allowed Merrill to score their first run of the inning. Another walk loaded the bases for Mason Smith who would single to right field scoring another Merrill run. Another single by Chase Bonnell scored two more runs as Peyton Becker and Kobe Blake crossed the plate. A ground out by Renken would score the Jays final run of the inning, with Smith crossing home plate. The Jays would blow the game wide open in the bottom of the third inning scoring five more runs to make it a 13-2 game. Four walks to the first five batters of the inning scored two runs for Merrill and left the bases loaded for Adam Detert who grounded out while still scoring the runner from third. A single by Renken would score two more runs for Merrill making the score 12-2. A Brandt Raleigh ground out would score one more run for the Jays as the inning would come to an end shortly after.
Jayden Sus came into the game for Detert in the fifth inning and he would come through with an RBI single to extend the Merrill lead to 14-2.
Ashland would score three runs in the top of the fifth inning to avoid the 10-run rule, however the Bluejays were able to get another run across in the bottom of the sixth inning to get the 15-5 win. After back to back walks to Adam Detert and Kordell Renken a ground ball would advance Detert to third base where he would later score on an error by the Ashland catcher to end the game.
Merrill loses to Warriors
On Thursday the Merrill baseball team traveled to the Woodside Sports Complex in Wisconsin Dells for a double header against Wausau West. In the first game Merrill was looking good as they held a five-run lead until giving up an 18-run third inning.
The Bluejays got the jump on West in the first inning scoring four runs. With the bases loaded Holden Smith delivered a two RBI single to right field. Following Smith’s single, Piersen Pyan hit a single to right field scoring another run. After Brandt Raleigh was hit by a pitch, Zack Anderson singled to right field scoring Smith and making it a 4-0 game. In the second inning Chase Bonnell added another run to Merrill’s lead as he hit a sacrifice fly ball that would score Kobe Blake. The Warriors got one run back in their half of the second inning to bring the score to 5-1.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Bluejays struggled to get outs as six walks would help Wausau West on their way to an 18-run inning to take a 19-5 lead. The Bottom of the fourth inning saw West score three more runs increasing their lead to 22-5. Despite the big deficit, Merrill didn’t give up as they fought for two more runs in the top of the fifth inning, however it wasn’t enough as West 10-run ruled the Jays with a final score of 22-7.
West takes game two
In the second game of the double header, Merrill was only able to muster up one run against the Warriors as West took game two by a score of 5-1.
The Warriors took the lead early scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, and would add on one more run in the third inning to make it a three run game. West would then go on to score another run in the fourth inning as well as the seventh inning to go up 5-0 going into the last half inning of the game. Merrill was finally able to get on the scoreboard after a leadoff double by Holden Smith followed by a double by Kordell Renken to score Smith. The game would end with a final score of 5-1.
Chase Bonnell started on the mound for Merrill. Bonnell pitched five innings, striking out two batters, walking three, allowing six hits and four runs. Alex Gehrke came in for relief and went the last two innings, striking out two, walking three and allowing one run on three hits.
The Bluejays will be back on the field this Thursday at home as they host Marshfield at 5 p.m.