The West Prairie/Southeastern baseball team stayed hot by scoring in each of the first four innings enroute to a 7-1 non-conference victory over Biggsville West Central on May 14 in Colchester.
It was Senior Day for the Cyclones who have now won six of their last seven games to improve to 11-10-1 for the season.
West Central threatened in the top of the first as leadoff hitter Sam Deverell doubled but was eventually thrown out at third by leftfielder Mason Whitman.
Colton Spence lined a two-out double off of WP/ SE starter Case Marlow, but Cooper Gibb was retired on a groundout to third baseman Austin Nelson to end the inning.
The Cyclones would get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first against Gibb as Braden Coplan led off with a single and took second on a throwing error by Gibb.
Coplan would steal third and score on a groundout by Marlow to give the Cyclones a 1-0 lead.
The Heat would threaten again in the second as Keaton Ruebush led off with a single and advanced to second after a base hit by Carter Gibb.
Marlow came back to strike out Easton Parker and Jackson Spence but Parker Anderson lined a single to Coplan in center who came up and threw a perfect strike to catcher Ivan Beck to get Ruebush trying to score and retire the side.
The Cyclones added to their lead in the second.
Eli DeCounter led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Holden Coplan. Hudson Riebling singled to put runners on first and third and DeCounter would score after an errant pickoff throw
BACK!!!
by Parker, the Heat catcher which allowed the junior first baseman to trot home and make it 2-0.
Shortstop Matt Whitman may have come up with the defensive play of the year in the top of the third to keep the Heat off the scoreboard.
After a two-out walk to Colton Spence, Cooper Gibb laced a ground ball that appeared headed towards left field. Whitman made a diving grab to his right and got up from deep short to throw a strike to DeCounter at first and retire Gibb by a step for the third out.
“Play of the year at short by Matt Whitman,” said WP/SE head coach Grant Bland. “Going all out to make that play was awesome. That was a big-league play. That finished an inning off and saved a run. Even the home plate umpire said that was incredible.”
WP/SE would make it 3-0 in the bottom of third by capitalizing on another West Central miscue to lead off the inning.
Marlow reached on an error by shortstop Jeremy Ford before Mason Whitman drilled a one-out ground-rule double to left to put runners in scoring position. DeCounter hit an RBI-groundout to shortstop before Gibb struck out Holden Coplan to end any further damage.
The Cyclones’ defense came through again in the top of the fourth to keep the Heat off the scoreboard.
Ruebush drew a leadoff walk and Carter Gibb reached on a bunt single to third, but Nelson’s throw got past DeCounter who recovered in time to throw out Ruebush at the plate trying to score from second.
West Central would load the bases but Marlow retired Deverell on a groundout to third to escape the jam.
The Cyclones would load the bases in the bottom of the fourth with one out before Marlow coaxed a walk from Gibb to allow Riebling, who had singled, to score and make it 4-0.
Nelson grounded out to short to drive home Braden Coplan before Mason Whitman hit a two-run single to give WP/SE a 7-0 lead.
West Central finally broke through in the top of the fifth when Ford drew a leadoff walk and Cooper Gibb hit a one-out single. Marlow struck out Ruebsuh for the second out but issued backto- back walks to Carter Gibb and Parker that forced in a run to bring the Heat to within 7-1.
Riebling came on in relief of Marlow and the freshman southpaw retired Spence on an infield popup to end the inning.
Riebling would allow only one hit over the final two innings but had to escape a jam in the top of the seventh after issuing two walks.
But the southpaw got Deverell to hit a ground ball to Whitman at short who forced Anderson out at second to end the game.
Marlow earned the win after going 4.2 innings and allowing only one run on seven hits. He struck out five, but walked six.
Braden Coplan and Mason Whitman each had two hits while Whitman and Marlow had two RBIs apiece.
Gibb took the loss for the Heat who committed six errors in the contest. The Cyclones committed no errors which pleased Bland.
“That was a really good effort defensively,” said Bland. “I loved the play from Continued from page 16
From the left: Austin Nelson, Hunter Jackson. Not pictured: Jason Foust Photo by Arlen Britton
Cyclones
Braden in the outfield and even Mason having the idea to catch the ball and throw the kid out (at third). (But), we’ve got to take away the walks.”
The win over West Central gave the Cyclones a two-game season sweep over the Heat and gave the Cyclones a twogame winning streak heading into the final week of the regular season.
WP/SE was scheduled to head to Liberty on Monday to face the Eagles in a non-conference matchup.
The Cyclones were then scheduled to travel to Dozer Park in Peoria on Tuesday to take on ROWVA/Williamsfield and finish the regular season at Galva on Wednesday.
