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Friday, 20 April 2007 |
By TOM HECKMAN
Staff Writer
BOTKINS — With the debut of Zane Wildermuth pitching, the Botkins Trojans (5-1) mowed down the visiting New Knoxville Rangers (1-5) in varsity baseball action Thursday.
At the plate, Caleb Koch and Travis Dietz led the Trojans to a 9-4 victory. Koch and Dietz each collected two hits including a triple to knock in two RBIs. They also scored two runs each. Koch stole two bases and Dietz stole one.
Third baseman David Doseck knocked in two runs early in the game.
Wildermuth pitched the first six innings, striking out nine Ranger batters. He gave up four earned runs.
“Zane Wildermuth came in and did a great job of pitching,” Botkins baseball coach James Smith said. “I had him at 90 pitches and that was his first outing of the season.
“He’s had a little bit of arm trouble with elbow tendonitis,” Smith said. “That’s the reason why he didn’t finish the game at the end. He pitched really well, he located well, kept his fastball at the knees and really did a good job.”
The Rangers’ Caleb Allen had three hits on the day, including a triple. He knocked in two runs and scored twice.
Jake Lawler pitched the first five innings for the Rangers and faced two batters in the sixth. He also had nine Ks to go along with four walks and two hit-batsmen. Of the seven runs he gave up, six were earned.
“I felt like we did good things,” New Knoxville baseball coach Ron Reineke said. “We hit the ball tonight. We had a couple errors, but we’re learning, we’re young and slowly but surely we’ll get it all together. We hit the ball a lot better tonight.”
With one out, Allen hit a single and came home two batters later.
During the bottom half, Botkins’ Ryan Leugers got hit by his first pitch. He stole second and third, then took home when the following batter connected. Dietz then walked and was taken in from a single by Phil Kennedy.
In the bottom of the second, John Raterman and Evan Maurer were both walked. Both players scored on a single by Doseck.
“We had a couple good two-out hits tonight,” Smith said referring to this inning in particular.
In the third inning, the first three Ranger batters connected for hits. Spieles and Lawler rapped singles and scored on a triple by Allen. He came home on a double by Wood.
Leugers reached base on a hit in the fourth and scored on a triple by Koch. Dietz plated Koch with a single.
Wildermuth was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning and stole second and third on the next two pitches thrown. He stole home on a catcher’s error.
The sixth inning saw Koch and Dietz contributing another run each. Koch hit a single and came in when Dietz knocked out a triple. Dietz then stole home.
Leugers replaced Wildermuth on the mound in the last inning and pitched three strikeouts.
“I’m not really overall happy with the defensive consistency lately, but we’ll get better,” Smith said. “We’ll improve in that area and good things are going to go our way. The kids are working hard and a win is a win.”
The road has been tougher for th Rangers.
“We won the first game of the year, but we’re at a tough road right now and we’re getting better every game,” Reineke said. “I’m seeing improvements and that’s all I ask from these kids.”
The Trojans return to the field at 5 p.m. today when they visit the Houston Wildcats.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 23 April 2007 )
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