Baxter baseball scores season sweep of BCLUW

BAXTER — A seven-run first inning is all the Baxter baseball team needed against BCLUW on Friday.

The Bolts jumped out to an early lead at the plate and Colton Moffit did the rest on the mound during an 8-2 home victory in Iowa Star Conference action.

Baxter added one run in the second for its eight runs. BCLUW scored once in the third and once in the seventh against Moffit, who went the distance on the mound and improved to 6-0.

BCLUW out-hit the Bolts 7-6, and Baxter was plagued by two errors. Neither run against Moffit was earned.

He allowed six hits and one walk and struck out seven in seven innings. He threw 92 pitches in the complete-game win and lowered his earned run average to .98.

The six Baxter hits came from six different players and they all were singles.

Cael Wishman led the Bolts (9-7, 7-4 in the conference) with one hit, two runs, one RBI, one walk and two steals and he was hit by a pitch.

Ben Richardson added one hit, one run, two RBIs, one walk and one steal, Hayden Burdess chipped in one hit, one run, two RBIs and two steals and Liam Trent added one hit, one run, one walk and two steals.

Cody Spurgeon walked once scored one run, stole one base and was hit by one pitch, Aiden Johnson tallied one hit, one run and one RBI, Perrin Sulzle collected one hit and James Esqueda walked once and stole one base. Grayson Scroggins also stole one base in his varsity debut.

Cael Keller led BCLUW (4-10, 4-8) with two hits, two runs and two steals. Daniel Zoske pitched 5 1/3 innings of relief and allowed one earned run.

The win completes the season sweep for Baxter over BCLUW. The Bolts have won four straight in the series.

BGM 7, Baxter 4

The Bolts led after two innings, but BGM broke a 2-all tie with a four-run fifth during a 7-4 non-conference road win on Thursday.

Baxter scored twice in the first and twice in the seventh and out-hit the Bears 11-10 in the loss. Each team committed two errors.

Wishman led the Bolts with three hits, two doubles, two runs and one RBI and Trent had three hits, one double and three RBIs. Trent leads the squad with 17 RBIs.

Sulzle had two hits, one double and one run and the other hits came from Richardson, Johnson and Spurgeon. Johnson also scored one run and Spurgeon was hit by a pitch.

Sulzle leads the Bolts with 18 runs. Moffit and Burdess each walked once.

Johnson (1-2) took the loss on the mound as he allowed five earned runs on nine hits and two hit batters in 3 2/3 innings of relief. He struck out two.

Wishman tossed 1 1/3 innings and allowed no earned runs and one hit. Sulzle and Nolan Hill each pitched one inning. Hill allowed one hit and Sulzle struck out one and hit one.

Tucker Wright led BGM (12-6) with three hits and two steals, while Dominic Coleman tallied two hits and three steals.

Mason Maschmann had two hits and two steals and pitched a complete game on the mound. He allowed two earned runs and struck out five in seven innings and 106 pitches.

Riceville 6, Baxter 2

The Bolts scored first and had their ace in line for another win, but Baxter decided to keep Moffit at 65 pitches so he could be used later in the week, and Riceville took advantage with a four-run sixth inning during a 6-2 road win on Tuesday.

Baxter led 2-0 after two and the Iowa Star Conference game was tied after two. Moffit left the game with the bases loaded and one out, but Johnson got out of the jam when he got John O’Donnell to bunt into a double play.

That kept the game tied, but the Wildcats scored four unearned runs in the sixth to win.

The hosts scored in the first and second to take an early lead. Richardson led off the game with a walk but was retired at second on a fielder’s choice.

Sulzle stole second and went to third on a single by Wishman. Wishman also stole second and then Sulzle scored on Johnson’s RBI sacrifice fly.

In the second, Moffit singled and his courtesy runner Hill stole second and scored to make it 2-0.

O’Donnell went the distance on the mound for Riceville and allowed no runs the rest of the way. He had 1-2-3 innings in the third, fourth and fifth.

In the sixth, Sulzle was hit by a pitch and Wishman walked. O’Donnell though got out of the jam when Johnson lined into a double play.

The Bolts got a one-out single by Burdess in the seventh, but fell short of the win.

Wishman, Burdess and Moffit had the team’s only hits. Wishman, Burdess and Richardson all walked once, Wishman, Sulzle and Hill all stole one base and Johnson had one RBI.

Sulzle was hit by a pitch and scored one run. He leads the Bolts with 18 steals.

Moffit started on the mound and did not factor into the decision. He allowed two runs — one earned — on four hits, one walk and one hit batter in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out six.

Johnson took the loss after surrendering four unearned runs on one hit, one walk and two hit batters. He struck out one in 2 1/3 innings.

Wishman pitched 1 1/3 innings and allowed no runs on two hits and three strikeouts.

Aidan Ebert led the Wildcats with two hits and two RBIs and Andrew Pridgen had one hit and two walks.

Riceville (10-9, 7-4) scored four runs in the sixth on three hits, one walk, one hit batter and one two-out error. The Bolts got two of the first three batters in the frame, but the Wildcats sent nine batters to the plate.