Wellsville 7, Louisburg 3

The Louisburg baseball team had hoped a change of scenery might turn around their recent string of bad luck.

Louisburg hosted Wellsville on Thursday in its home opener after playing six consecutive games on the road. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they weren’t able to turn it around.

The Wildcats are still looking for their first win of the season after a pair of 5-0 and 7-3 losses to the Eagles at Lewis-Young Park. Louisburg was also missing a couple starters due to a class trip, which made a young team even younger.

Wellsville took a two-run lead in the opener and never looked back and the Eagles had a perfect going until the sixth inning when junior Kaden Oehlert broke it up with a single. Kolby Kattau, a freshman, added another single later for the Wildcats’ only two hits.

Freshman Maverick Rockers provided the Wildcats with a quality start as he gave up three earned runs on five hits and struck out two over five innings.

In the nightcap, the Wildcats had a 2-1 lead going into the fifth inning after an RBI single from Kattau scored Michael Rogers in the third. A.J. Drew then tripled in the fourth inning and scored on a wild pitch to give the Wildcats the lead.

Wellsville then answered with three runs in the fifth and three more in the seventh to secure the win. Louisburg scored another run in the fifth when Oehlert scored on a Wellsville error, but the Wildcats could get no closer.

The Wildcats (0-8) were able to pound out 11 hits, but stranded several of those runners. Five errors also cost the Wildcats.

Freshman Brandon Doles led the Wildcat bats with three hits, while Andrew Krause and Kattau each finished with two.

Junior Garrett Harding provided the Wildcats with a strong start as he didn’t allow an earned run in his four innings of work, gave up two hits and struck out two. Krause gave up two earned runs in three innings of relief and struck out four.