The Wauzeka-Steuben Hornets Baseball team had an interesting week last week with three different results occurring across four days. First up for the Hornets was a trip to Viola last Monday, April 20 to face off with the Kickapoo Panthers. The visiting Hornets took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning and held that lead until the bottom of the third inning when the Panthers scored twice to take a 2-1 lead.
The hosts would add three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend their lead to 5-1 before Wauzeka-Steuben would cut into the deficit with two runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth inning but were unable to fully complete the rally as the Panthers held on to defeat the Hornets 5-4. Cooper Lomas (five runs allowed (four earned) on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched) was the losing pitcher for W-S, while Bentley Dums (zero runs allowed on one hit and no walks with five strikeouts) pitched the final two innings in relief.
Theo Millin was the Hornets leading hitter in the loss, going 3-for-3 with one walk and one RBI in the game. The Hornets also got hits from Josh Martin (1-for-4 with one run scored) and Brody Ray (1-for-2 with a double, one walk, one run scored and one RBI).
Wauzeka-Steuben stepped out of conference the next night to travel to Copeland Park in La Crosse to face the Alma/Pepin Eagles of the Dairyland-Small Conference on the home field of the La Crosse Loggers and a wild game ensued.
The Hornets once again took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning and for the second straight night, they saw their lead slip away in the bottom of the first. A/P went ahead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning before the Hornets re-tied the game with two runs in the top of the third inning to make the score 3-3 heading into the bottom of the third inning. The Eagles offense struck for three more runs in the third to go up 6-3 on W-S before the Hornets responded with two more runs in the top of the fourth to make the score 6-5 in favor of the Eagles. Alma/Pepin would extend their lead to 8-5 with a single run in the fourth and fifth innings.
Wauzeka-Steuben’s offense was held in check in the fifth and sixth innings but erupted in the top of the seventh inning. Trailing 8-7 with two outs, the Hornets used a two-out RBI double by Lomas en route to scoring 11 runs with two outs and 13 total runs in the inning. Now trailing 18-8 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Alma/Pepin managed to score again but the Eagles were unable to get anymore runs and the Hornets held on for a wild 18-9 victory.
Ryder Fralick started the game on the mound for Wauzeka-Steuben, allowing eight runs (four earned) on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 5.0 innings pitched to earn the no-decision when the Hornets rallied. Dums (one run allowed on one hit and zero walks with two strikeouts in 2.0 innings pitched) got the win in relief of Fralick.
The Hornets offense scored 18 runs on 12 hits, with Lomas (2-for-4 with a double, two walks, four runs scored and three RBIs) and Fralick (3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs) being the only Hornet hitters to have multiple hits in the game. W-S also got hits from Clint Mitchell (1-for-4 with a double, two walks, one run scored and two RBIs), Millin (1-for-5 with one walk and one RBI), Dums (1-for-4 with a double, one walk, two runs scored and one RBI), Mason Johnson (1-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored and one RBI), Ruger Groom (1-for-4 with one walk, two runs scored and two RBIs) and Ray (1-for-3 with three runs scored).
The Hornets (2-4 overall, 1-3 in the Ridge & Valley Conference) were scheduled to host De Soto this past Monday night before stepping back out of conference on Friday night when they head to Boscobel to face the Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m.
