Louisburg gets sweep of Prairie View

By Andy Brown
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: April 13, 2015

Louisburg senior second baseman Mitchell Caldwell makes a throw to first base after making a diving stop Thursday in the Wildcats’ home opener with Prairie View.

It will take a sweep whenever it can get it, but for the Louisburg baseball team, Thursday’s sweep of Prairie View couldn’t have come at a better time.

After losing three of their first four games, the Wildcats’ offense came alive for an 11-1 and 13-12 victory in their home opener over Prairie View at Lewis-Young Park. Louisburg had just come off two, run-rule losses at the hand of Fort Scott earlier in the week in which it was shutout of both games.

“It is always good to win two games, no matter who you play,” Louisburg coach Jeff Lohse said. “We did everything we could to hand them the second game. The game should have never gotten to where it was at the end if we would have competed through the elements and made routine plays that we make every day in practice.”

The elements were a factor for both teams as gusty winds and cold weather moved in shortly before first pitch and it only got worse as the night wore on. Although it wasn’t ideal playing conditions, the Wildcats were still able to plate plenty of runs.

Everyone contributed offensively in the first game. All nine players in the starting lineup each had a hit but none was bigger than senior Ethan Caldwell.

Caldwell finished with three hits to go along with 5 RBIs to spark the Wildcats from the No. 9 spot. Fellow senior Mitchell Caldwell had a pair of hits, while juniors Cole Kramer and Matt Risenhoover had 2 RBIs each.

“Ethan had a nice game at the plate,” Lohse said. “It is good to get some production down in the lower part of the line-up. We, as a team, did some good things but we left way too many runners on base when we had chances to drive them in.”

The Wildcats (3-3) batted around in the five-run third inning that eventually spotted them an 8-1 lead and tacked on a few more runs later to complete the run-rule win in the sixth inning.

Louisburg got a complete game performance on the mound from Grant Harding. The Wildcats sophomore allowed just one run, struck out six batters and worked around six walks to get the win.

“I thought Grant had a great outing,” Lohse said. “He is a competitor out there and doesn’t ever want me taking the ball out of his hand. I think he will tell you that he walked too many guys but overall he did a great job for us.”

The nightcap got interesting late for both teams. Louisburg held an 8-2 lead going to the sixth inning, but several Wildcat errors led to seven Prairie View runs in the sixth and the Buffalos took a one-run lead.

Louisburg was able to take the lead back with five runs in its half of the sixth and hold on after Prairie View scored three runs in the seventh.

Louisburg junior Cole Kramer follows through on a pitch Tuesday against Prairie View. Kramer recorded eight strikeouts in the nightcap.

“I am proud of the way we persevered and kept battling,” Lohse said. “The weather conditions were not ideal for baseball and I thought that affected us mentally which lead to some uncharacteristic errors on defense. We just need to clean up a few things and we will be OK.”

The Wildcats got a strong performance from Kramer on the mound. Kramer pitched five innings in which he allowed only two runs, but his defense didn’t help him in the sixth when Prairie View took the lead back.

Kramer allowed eight runs, but none of them were earned and he also struck out eight. Sophomore Sam Guetterman came on in relief and got the win.

“Cole did a very nice job for us as well,” Lohse said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t help him out defensively and I had to take him out when he was cruising right along for the first five innings.”

Kramer and sophomore Korbin Hankinson led the Wildcat offense with two hits and a double each. Kramer also finished the game with three stolen bases and 2 RBIs, while Colton Smith led the team with three runs scored.