Louisburg sweeps Osawatomie, Wildcats on 3-game win streak

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 24, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg sophomore pitcher Garrett Harding was one of three Wildcats to earn a win this past week after Louisburg swept Osawatomie on Thursday and split with Baldwin on April 17.

The Louisburg baseball team spent the first two weeks of the season away from home and finally had a chance to host a pair of doubleheaders Thursday against Osawatomie and April 17 against Baldwin.

After splitting two games with Baldwin, the Wildcats put together the right combination of pitching and offense against Osawatomie as Louisburg earned the sweep at Lewis-Young Park with a 10-0 and 15-2 victory.

The Wildcats, which took three of four games on the week, evened their record to 6-6 on the season and are now riding a 3-game winning streak.

“Getting the wins was a great way to build some momentum as we are set to play a competitive De Soto team this week,” Louisburg coach Joel McGhee said. “We had great defensive and offensive play that allowed us to have a successful week.”

Juniors Jakob Krause and Noah Larson each got complete game victories against Osawatomie and kept the Trojan hitters off-balance.

Krause pitched five innings in the opener and gave up just two hits and struck out eight batters. He found himself in a tough situation in the first inning as Osawatomie loaded the bases, but he got out of the inning by stranding all three runners.

Larson pitched five innings in the nightcap and gave up two earned runs on five hits and also struck out five batters.

Louisburg junior Jakob Krause pitched a complete game shutout Thursday against Osawatomie.

“Krause and Larson both threw very well against Osawatomie,” McGhee said. “Jakob started off the first inning well with a strikeout and a pop-up, however the pop-up was dropped. At that point you could tell that he was trying to take things into his own hands and was a bit shaken. When he came out in the second, he settled down and took control of the game. He got ahead early in counts and threw strikes consistently. We can’t ask any more of our pitchers.

“Larson filled up the zone in the second game as well. He worked ahead and allowed the defense to work behind him. He got the leadoff batter out in four of the five innings. It built confidence for Larson and for our defense. He threw first pitch strikes to a majority of the batters that he faced and made Osawatomie work to get runs by getting hits.”

Louisburg’s offense also had a big fourth inning in each game.

The Wildcats broke open a scoreless contest in the opener with a 9-run fourth inning and took advantage of three Osawatomie errors and were hit by a pitch twice.

Larson led the Wildcat offense with a pair of hits, scored twice and had an RBI. Sophomore Garrett Harding had a big 2-run single in the fourth inning, while Krause, Chase Norton, Garrett Caldwell, Madden Rutherford and Michael Rogers also had RBIs.

In the nightcap, Louisburg jumped out to a 4-1 lead and then scored two more runs in the third and broke the game open with another 9-run fourth inning. The Wildcats scored their 15 runs on 15 hits and were also helped by six Osawatomie errors.

Harding had a big day at the plate as he finished 3-for-4 with a double and 3 RBIs. Larson and Caldwell also finished with a pair of hits as both had a triple and Larson had 2 RBIs.

Rogers and Rutherford also had two hits each, while senior Nate Swenson finished with 2 RBIs.

“As a team we had a good approach at the plate,” McGhee said. “We strung together series of hits and moved runners around the bases. We advanced runners on steals and hit and runs, and saw a majority of our base runners cross the plate. A big part of our success was putting the ball in play and we limited the number of strikeouts. We gave ourselves a chance and had some hard hit balls rather than losing opportunities to strikeouts.

“The big innings were great. We’ve been on both sides of them this season and have felt both the positive and negative impacts. It is great to be on the positive side and build momentum that pushes us out front. Our guys feed off the energy that builds and do a great job of taking advantage of those moments.”

Louisburg will try to keep its winning streak alive when it returns to action Tuesday as it travels to De Soto for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.

Louisburg earns split with Baldwin

In its home opener on April 17, Louisburg faced a little adversity as the Wildcats lost the first game of their doubleheader with Baldwin, 12-0.

The nightcap, however, was a different story as the Wildcats had two big innings that propelled them to a 10-1 victory over the Bulldogs.

Sophomore Garrett Harding calmed the waters for Louisburg as he allowed just one run on three hits and also struck out a pair of batters.

“Garrett helped establish how game two was going to end,” Louisburg coach Joel McGhee said. “He threw two 1-2-3 innings, got the leadoff batter out in five innings, and had two innings that he threw 13 or fewer pitches. He challenges each batter he faces, making the batters work to get hits. He steps on the rubber and throws hard – a pretty no non-sense approach. He does a good job locating his pitches, allowing the defense to back him up.”

Louisburg junior Noah Larson connects for a base hit on April 17 against Baldwin at Lewis-Young Park.

The Wildcat offense gave Harding an early lead to work with as they scored four runs in the first inning and added six more in the sixth to all but seal the win.

Harding helped his own cause as he led the Wildcat offense with three hits and 3 RBIs, while Garrett Caldwell had a single, a double and 2 RBIs and Nate Swenson also had a pair of hits.

Beckett Rasmussen also finished the game with two hits, while Chase Norton and Jakob Krause each had a double.

“Things went south quick in the first game against Baldwin,” McGhee said. “We gifted several extra outs and Baldwin took full advantage of them and their bats came alive. They had some hard hit balls to the gaps and ran the bases well. We could have kept our heads down in game two, but the guys bounced back. They were not going to stay down and got a big win for us.”