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Bad innings hurt Wildcats against Chanute

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Louisburg sophomore Sam Guetterman follows through on a pitch during Thursday’s doubleheader with Chanute at Lewis-Young Park. The Wildcats fell to Chanute 4-1 and 19-10.


 

The mood of the Louisburg baseball team was a lot different at Lewis-Young Park following Thursday’s doubleheader with Chanute.

Just two days earlier, the Wildcats swept No. 3 De Soto and were on top of the world. Louisburg came down to Earth a little bit as Chanute outlasted the Wildcats for an extra-inning 4-1 victory in game one and then used an 11-run inning to win 19-10 to complete the sweep.

The losses made for a frustrating evening.

“We had opportunities in both games to come out with wins,” Louisburg coach Jeff Lohse said.

In the first game, the Wildcats (9-7) were tied with Chanute at 1-1 going into the eighth inning, but the Comets took advantage of a wild throw home with runners on second and third that led to three runs, and eventually the win.

Louisburg scattered seven hits in the game, but was never able to put together the big inning. After Chanute scored a run in the first, the Wildcats tied the game in the fourth when Austin Henderson doubled and later came around to score on an error.

Sophomore Sam Guetterman started the first game for Louisburg and kept his team in the game with a strong performance. Guetterman gave up just one run in four innings and struck out seven.

Senior Ethan Caldwell came on in relief to pitch three innings and gave up one earned run on just two hits. Caldwell also led the Wildcat offense with three hits and Henderson finished with two.

“Sam did an excellent job in game one,” Lohse said. “He struggled with his command but was able to hold them to one run and keep us in the game. Ethan came in and did a great job giving us a chance to win at the end. We just couldn’t get one more across to win it in the seventh inning.”

It was the nightcap that probably frustrated the Wildcats even more.

Prime Accounting

Louisburg jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fourth inning and appeared to have all the momentum. Instead, Chanute grabbed it right back and scored 11 runs on just four hits in the fifth inning. The Comets were also aided by two Louisburg errors and six walks in the frame.

“Game two was very frustrating and uncharacteristic of us this season,” Lohse said. “With our pitching, I feel pretty confident when we have a 3-4 run lead late in the game. For some reason, we struggled to throw strikes and a few mental mistakes on defense came back to haunt us. This was a very winnable game that I feel we let slip away.”

Offense wasn’t a problem for Louisburg in the second game as the Wildcats took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single from Lucas Smith and a two-run double from Dalton Stone.

After Chanute came back to tie the game in the third, Louisburg answered back in the fourth with four runs. Mitchell Caldwell delivered an RBI double, Henderson followed with an RBI single and he came around to score on an RBI triple from Grant Harding. The Wildcats also got a sacrifice fly from Ethan Caldwell to score Stone.

Then came Chanute’s 11-run fifth that put the Wildcats down 14-7. Louisburg did display some power to try and get back in the game as Stone and Smith each hit solo home runs, but the deficit was too great.

Stone finished the game with a team-high three hits and 3 RBIs. Cole Kramer, Mitchell Caldwell, Henderson and Smith each added two hits each.

All is not lost for the Wildcats, however. Louisburg is currently in a tie for second in the Frontier League standings with Paola and behind Ottawa.

Luckily for the Wildcats, they host Ottawa today at Lewis-Young Park in hopes of creeping their way atop the standings. It is also the Wildcats’ final home contest of the season and they will honor seniors Lucas Smith, Mitchell Caldwell and Ethan Caldwell on senior night.

Louisburg ends its regular season Monday when it travels to Spring Hill.

“Our next two double-headers are going to be huge for us,” Lohse said. “We control our own destiny as far as a league championship goes and our guys are excited for this opportunity.”