Hornets take two out of three conference battles

By Ginna Young

Cadott’s baseball program took part in a double header with a tough foe, before facing a final West Cloverbelt Conference opponent to end the week.

April 18 vs. Osseo-Fairchild conference (W 20-0)

The Hornets were on the road at Osseo-Fairchild, in the first of a two-game stand that night. Cadott’s bats came out hot, with the Hornets scoring 20 runs on 15 hits.

That helped junior Warren Bowe put away the game on the mound, shutting out the Thunder.

“Warren got the game started off with a lead-off homerun and we kept scoring from there,” said coach Brandon Geist.

Bowe went all five innings, only allowing a single hit, while striking out 13. Offensively, he also had 3 hits.

Seniors Axel Tegels and Connor Roth followed that with 2 hits each, as did sophomore Aiden Rykal and Michael Wellner, while senior Easton Goodman, junior Brandon Sikora, sophomore Gabe Sikora and freshman Isaac Wellner all had a hit.

April 18 vs. Osseo-Fairchild conference (L 12-1)

The next game, Cadott struggled to put runs on the board and watched the Thunder take the win, 12-1.

“In game two, we couldn’t get the offense going and made some mistakes on defense that we couldn’t recover from,” said Geist. “Conner Roth took the loss on the mound, but grinded out four innings to keep us in it, but the bats got cold.

Roth gave up 8 hits and 7 runs, striking out 7, while I. Wellner went an inning, allowing a hit and 3 runs, with junior Braden Denzine pitching an inning to give up a hit and 2 runs. None of the Hornets had a hit on the offensive side.

“Good night to build from…” said Geist.

April 19 vs. Fall Creek conference (L 18-10)

With no time to rest from the double header, Cadott was again on the road, this time, to Fall Creek. Neither team scored in the first inning, but the Crickets woke up in the second, knocking in five runs, opposed to Cadott’s lone run.

The Hornets wouldn’t be ignored and added nine runs in the fourth inning. However, Fall Creek was determined to take back the lead and in just the sixth inning, had 11 runs cross the plate to claim an 18-10 victory.

“Aiden Rykal pitched five solid innings to keep us in it, but we couldn’t hold on to the lead, as our defense just couldn’t make the plays at the end,” said Geist.

Rykal allowed 7 hits and 7 runs, with Tegels giving up a hit and 8 runs, and Denzine allowing 2 hits and 3 runs.

Offensively, Goodman came away with 3 hits, while Tegels, Roth, Rykal and Sikora each had a hit.