Piper 9, Louisburg 5

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.