By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
Originally planned as an away game on Tuesday and a home game on Thursday, both against Marshfield, weather on Tuesday forced a re-scheduling that ended up being a doubleheader this past Thursday (May 12). Bluejay varsity baseball lost the first game in a shutout with a final score of 10-0, with Merrill mustering just two hits and committing two errors. The second game saw a completely different outcome with the Bluejays winning 11-5, generating 13 hits and committing two errors.
The first game saw no runs from Merrill. Marshfield started off strong with two runs on the first and continued with another run in the third, five runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth before the game was called.
Trevor Asmundsen and Jared Schmeltzer were the only players to get a hit during the game. Colline Grefe pitched three innings, striking out one, walking two, allowing nine hits and eight runs-five earned. Trey Seubert pitched one inning, striking out none, walking one and allowing four hits and two earned runs. Ryan Golisch lead the fielding effort at first base with four putouts. Other important fielders include Asmundsen and Dylan Anderson with two putouts and an assist each, Schmeltzer with a putout and an assist and Kyle Juhlke, Drew Hoff, Nick Bowe and Tyler Belfiori each with a putout.
“The first game we just did not swing the bats well,” comments head coach Shawn Schultz. “We only had 3 strikeouts but we just didn’t square up a lot of balls. I think we had just the two hits and that is not going to get it done. In between games we told them that they really needed to focus and stick to the things that we have been working on. We can’t go back and change game 1 but we can go out and play a really good second game.”
The second game of the evening saw a compete turnaround with Merrill getting ten of their eleven runs in the first three innings.
The first inning started with Asmundsen advancing to first on a dropped third strike. Later Golisch drove him in with a line drive to left. Later Christian Halbach would drive Dan Duginski in with a hard grounder to right. Hoff would get the last run of the inning, courtesy of Troy Pike’s line drive to left.
In the second inning Chris Kanitz would score off of Golisch’s line drive to left and later Asmundsen would score on an error by the short stop from Hoff’s line drive.
The third inning saw the bulk of Merrill’s runs, starting with Halbach scoring off of Anderson’s grounder to center. Christian Kleinschmidt would score off of Asmundsen’s line drive to left and Kanitz would later score off of Belfiori’s line drive to left. Hoff would drive in both Asmundsen and Belfiori with a line drive to left before the inning ended.
Marshfield started to acquire runs and slowly encroach on Merrill’s lead, starting with a run in the fourth and another in the fifth. Merrill would get their last run of the game in the bottom of the fifth with Asmundsen scoring off of Golisch’s grounder to short stop. Marshfield started a comeback rally in the sixth with three runs but it wasn’t enough to win the game.
Golisch and Asmundsen were both hot at the plate, with the former getting two hits and three RBIs and the later getting three hits, four runs, a RBI and a double. Other top offensive players include Hoff (2H, 1R, 2RBI, 1BB), Belfiori (1H, 1R, 1RBI), Halbach (1H, 1R, 1RBI), Kanitz (2R), Pike (2H, 1RBI), Kleinschmidt (1R) and Anderson (1H, 1RBI, 1BB).
“Ryan came out and set the tone on the mound and pitched a great game, striking out 10 with no walks in 6 innings,” adds Schultz. “Offensively, it was like night and day. We did a great job of making solid, hard contact and had some key hits to score some runs. It really helps to get the early lead because it allows everyone to relax and play a little looser. We ran into a little trouble in the sixth and gave them some extra outs and bases and it tightened things up a bit but Kyle Juhlke came in to finish the seventh and did great job sealing the win with a couple more strikeouts. Trevor had three hits to help get the offense going and the other guys seemed to follow his lead.
Golisch pitched six of the seven innings, striking out ten, walking none, allowing nine hits and five runs-four earned. Kyle Juhlke pitched the last inning, striking out two, walking none, allowing one hit and no runs.
Anderson fielded a great game with ten putouts and an assist. Other fielders include Kleinschmidt and Grefe with three putouts, Schmeltzer with a putout and three assists, Hoff with two putouts and both Golisch and Pike with a putout each.
Stats provided by GameChanger.
