Big hit evades Louisburg in sweep

Louisburg senior Mitchell Caldwell looks in a throw at second base as he tries to tag a runner out during a game earlier this season. The Wildcats fell to Baldwin on Tuesday, 7-2 and 4-3.

BALDWIN CITY – The Louisburg baseball team had a lot of momentum going into Tuesday’s doubleheader with Baldwin and for good reason.

The Wildcats had won four straight going in and had a chance to build on it even more against the Bulldogs. Unfortunately for Louisburg, it couldn’t find the big hit in the 7-2 and 4-3 losses to Baldwin and the Wildcats are now 5-5 on the season.

“We were two very even teams according to the stats,” Louisburg coach Jeff Lohse said. “Baldwin was able to come up with a few timely 2-out base hits that scored runs for them. I thought we actually played pretty good in both games, but we weren’t as mentally focused as I would like to have seen.”

In the opener, the Wildcats jumped on Baldwin early as they scored two runs in the first inning.

Senior Mitchell Caldwell reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a RBI single from Austin Henderson. Henderson later scored on a single from Grant Harding.

Baldwin answered right back in its half of the first inning with two runs off Harding and the Wildcats were not able to find the holes against the Bulldog pitchers. Louisburg managed just five hits in the final six innings.

Junior Cole Kramer reached base in all four plate appearances as he walked twice and had two singles.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, took the lead with a run in the second and then blew the game open with five runs in the third to all but seal the win.

Louisburg battled in the nightcap, and after it fell behind early, rallied to take the lead in the second inning. Harding led off with a triple and later scored on a single from Colton Smith. Smith came around to score on a fielder’s choice from Ethan Caldwell.

It didn’t take long for Baldwin to take the lead back as it scored two runs in the third to take the lead for good. The Bulldogs added a run in the fourth to take a 2-run lead.

The Wildcats tried to rally in the seventh as Kramer tripled and came around to score, but they couldn’t get the tying runner on base.

Harding led the Wildcat offense with a pair of hits, while Dalton Stone singled and walked twice.

Louisburg will try and get back on track today when it travels to Osawatomie. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.