Despite Fourteen Walks, Western Hangs On For 11-9 Victory Over Piper

Pitching and defense are considered to be the key’s to success for any high school baseball program. For one night, the Western Wildcats showed that even the best theories sometimes can be proven wrong.

Western pitchers walked fourteen Piper batters, and the Wildcats defense committed several errors. Despite the rough performance on the mound and in the field, Western held off a late Bengals rally to win the match up of former district rivals 11-9.

Right from the start, it was apparent that this would be a long night for the pitching staffs. Western’s Ben Katz walked four consecutive batters in the first, and by the end of the frame Piper had a 2-0 lead.

The Wildcats then came back with single runs in the first and second. Kyle Harrington drove in the Western run in the first on a ground out, and designated hitter John Williams singled home Kyle Perry in the second, tying the game at two.

Piper responded in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs, on a hard hit single to left by Bryan Rath, and a throwing error by the Wildcats shortstop. That lead, however, was short-lived as the Wildcats plated two runs in their half of the inning.

The Bengals took the lead again in the fifth, on a walk, a wild pitch, a hit batter, a sacrifice bunt, and another Western error. Piper squandered an opportunity to extend the lead when they left the bases loaded for the second time in the game.

Western seemingly put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth when they scored six runs. The inning started cleanly when Hebert Quintana doubled and Chris Perez hit an RBI single. From there, things went downhill for the Bengals.

Russell Hackworth walked, Perry reached on an error, as did Williams. Max Balter then walked on four pitches, scoring Hackworth. The last three runs of the inning were scored when pinch hitter Lucas Carman hit a sacrifice fly and Kyle Harrington drilled a single to center.

The Bengals rallied in both the sixth and seventh innings, but fell short when they left the tying runs at first and third to end the game. Western had escaped, improving their record to 5-1, but Head Coach Sonny Hansley was not happy with the fourteen walks issued by his pitching staff.

“Unacceptable,” said Hansley after the game, while adding a coach’s perspective, “Overall, it was an exciting game…for the fans.”

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