In the season opener for the new West Prairie/Augusta Southeastern baseball co-op against IHSA Class 2A Orion, head coach Grant Bland had planned on treating the contest as, more or less, a spring training game for an opportunity to see how his young squad and several new players would perform.
Bland wasn’t too pleased with the first inning as Orion capitalized on a couple of Cyclones’ errors to jump out to 6-0 lead and the Chargers would go on to a 19-7 non-conference victory Saturday in Colchester.
Despite the start and the outcome, Bland was actually happy with a lot of what he saw with his team that started four freshmen.
“The best part was that we almost emptied our bench today. We got a lot of at bats,” said Bland. “We could have rolled over early. Two or three easy plays in that first inning from being a completely different game. Granted, the game changes for (Orion), too. We at least started to overcome some of the mistakes we made.”
Junior Case Marlow got the start on the mound for WP/SE and probably deserved a better fate in the first inning.
Orion right fielder Kyler Owens hit a foul pop-up to lead off the game that Marlow tracked down in foul territory, but the ball popped out of his glove and Owens took advantage soon after with a double down the left field line.
Kellen Kunert followed with another double to make it 1-0. Mason Laleman hit an infield ground ball and WP/SE freshman first baseman Kash Lantz couldn’t handle the throw for an error allowing Laleman to score to give Orion a 2-0 lead.
Andrew Pavlik followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0 and Orion would tack on three more runs capped by Gavin Kerker’s two-run double to go up 6-0.
“I thought Case pounded the zone pretty well,” said Bland of the start. “We make a couple of those plays, he gets to go another inning or so. I told them that those were mistakes that I feel confident we can make adjustments to.”
Orion would add on five more runs in the second including a three-run homer off the bat of Joe Norton to extend the lead to 11-0.
Freshman Holden Coplan would come on in relief of Marlow to start the third inning and allowed an RBI single to Pavlik to make it 12-0.
Meanwhile, Laleman, who started for Orion, retired six of the first seven batters he faced allowing only a two-out walk to Lantz in the second.
Will Clarke came on in relief of Laleman in the bottom of the third inning and WP/SE capitalized on Clarke’s wildness to get on the scoreboard.
Freshman Ivan Beck was hit by a pitch to lead off before junior Matt Whitman and senior Austin Nelson drew two-out walks to load the bases.
Marlow followed with a hard hit ground ball to third that Kerker mishandled to allow Beck to score and make it 12-1. Junior Jace Brown then coaxed a bases-loaded walk from Clarke to force in Whitman and cut the deficit to 12-2.
Coplan walked the first two batters he faced in the fourth before Owens drilled an RBI single to put Orion up 13-1. Following another walk, freshman Tyson Carnes came on in relief to strike out Laleman to end the inning.
Pavlik came on to pitch in the bottom of the third for Orion, but WP/SE would threaten in the bottom of the fourth before Pavlik escaped further damage by leaving the bases loaded.
Orion would add two runs in the fifth against Carnes, but the Cyclones responded with five runs in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a two-run single by Beck and a base hit by Whitman that drove in a pair of runs to make it 15-7.
Orion came back as Norton would cap a four-run outburst in the sixth with his second home run of the game, a three-run blast off of Brown, who started the sixth in relief of Carnes, to put Orion on top 19-7.
Keagan Daniels would become Orion’s fifth pitcher of the game and allowed only a single to Lantz in the bottom of the sixth before striking Holden Coplan to end the game.
WP/SE managed only five hits in the game and were led by Whitman and Beck who each drove in two runs.
Norton and Dayne Franks paced Orion (1-1) with five RBI apiece as the Chargers pounded out 13 hits.
Laleman earned the victory while Marlow took the loss for WP/SE (0-1).
“I told (players) that they were going to play a really good team today,” said Bland afterwards. “The ball is going to find you out there on defense whether you like it or not and it did. We get our feet wet a little bit and get some more games, it’ll be fine.”
“Like I said, the best part was that we stuck together the whole game and I felt everybody contributed,” Bland continued. “The first inning was a bit discouraging, but we talked a little about how nervous some of the kids were and it got better as the game progressed. I’m proud of them.”
WP/SE will next travel to Monmouth United Thursday to face the Red Storm in a non-conference game.
