Piper sweeps Wildcat baseball in opener

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Louisburg baseball team had to wait a couple extra days to begin its season, but the Wildcats eventually got going Thursday when they traveled to Piper for their opener.

Louisburg got out to early leads
in both games of the doubleheader at Piper High School, but the Wildcats couldn’t
hold on to either as they fell 9-5 and 15-5 to the Pirates.

The Wildcats were in control most
of the way in the opener as they took a 5-1 lead into the fifth inning, but
Piper responded for five runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to all
but seal the win.

Junior Madden Rutherford started
the game for the Wildcats as he went three inning and gave up just one hit and
one earned run, but the Pirates got to the Wildcat pitching staff after that.

Senior Noah Larson led the
Wildcats with a single and double and junior Garrett Harding had a hit and 3
RBIs in the loss. Rutherford and seniors Beckett Rasmussen and Michael Rogers
also had hits for Louisburg, while senior Jakob Krause and Rutherford each
scored a pair of runs.

In the nightcap, it was Piper that
jumped out to an early 3-1 advantage, but the Wildcats scored three runs in the
second and another in the third to take a 5-4 lead into the fourth inning.

The Piper bats were just too much
for the Wildcats as the Pirates scored 11 runs in the next three frames to
complete the sweep of Louisburg.

Larson, senior Chase Norton,
junior Andrew Krause and senior Logan McClellan each had hits for the Wildcats
and Norton recorded a double. Larson finished the game with 2 RBIs, while Jakob
Krause, Rutherford and Rogers also drove in runs.

Louisburg will try and bounce back
today when it travels to Baldwin for another doubleheader. First pitch is set
for 4:30 p.m.