Viking Baseball Team Blasts Whitko
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SOUTH WHITLEY -ÊAt this point in the year, baseball coaches like to see their teams show improvement from the beginning of the season.
Monday night in South Whitley, Whitko and Valley squared off and showed their coaches how far they have come. One coach was pleased, but the other was not quite as lucky.
The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings showed coach Pat O'Connell the improvements they have made by defeating the Wildcats 12-4.
After one inning, the Wildcats and the Vikings remained scoreless, but Valley changed that in the top of the second. Aaron Cox was on first after being hit by a pitch, and Valley had two outs when the Vikings started their rally.
Matt Shilling stepped to the plate and hit a single to drive Cox home, and B.J. Cunningham laced a triple to left field to send Shilling home. Derek Eby hit a single to drive Cunningham in and give Valley a 3-0 lead over Whitko.
The Vikings held Whitko scoreless in the bottom of the second, and the Wildcats returned the favor in the top of the third. The Whitko squad came alive in the bottom of the third inning when Eric Lee hit a one-out single to begin a Wildcat run.
After Anthony Clausen walked, Jim Baumgartner hit a double to drive Lee across the plate and score Whitko's first run of the game. Then Trent Burelison walked on a wild pitch that brought Clausen across the plate and made the score 3-2 in Valley's favor.
Valley would not be satisfied with a one-run lead, and the Vikings exploded for five runs in the fourth inning. Shilling started the inning with a single, and Cunningham hit a double to give Valley runners on second and third. A error allowed Shilling to score and Cunningham to advance to third and set up an Eby sacrifice that drove Cunningham home. Phil Jackson was hit by a pitch to get to first base and scored on a Backus single.
Backus then scored on a Richie Swanson double. R.J. Hutchison hit another double for the Vikings to drive Swanson home and give Valley an 8-2 lead.
"We made a couple mistakes in the fourth inning," said Whitko coach John Strayer. "We should have been out of the inning, but they got five runs on us. We did not execute the things we needed to execute tonight."
However, Whitko refused to give in and scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, on a Ben Ryan home run and a misplayed rundown attempt, to cut Valley's lead in half, 8-4.
The Vikings managed to hold the Wildcats scoreless for the remainder of the game, and Valley produced four more runs in the sixth inning to come out with a decisive 12-4 victory.
"We are a young team," said Valley coach Pat O'Connell. "With the exception of our two pitchers, who are both seniors, we are pretty much sophomores down the line with a few juniors thrown in.
"We are coming along the way I thought we would by this point in the season. I am pleased with tonight's outcome."
"We are not in the right frame of mind right now," said Strayer. "With an inexperienced pitching staff, we need to perform at the plate and execute on the little things. We need to apply the things we are doing in practice to game situations.We just aren't doing that right now."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 12, WHITKO 4
Whitko ab r h rbi
Clausen 2 1 1 0
Baumgartner 3 0 1 1
Martin 4 0 0 0
Burelison 2 0 0 1
Waller 3 0 0 0
Miller 3 0 0 0
Ryan 3 1 1 1
Sullivan 2 0 0 0
Allen 1 0 0 0
Lee 3 2 2 0
Totals 26 4 5 3
Valley ab r h rbi
Cunningham 5 2 4 1
Eby 4 0 1 2
Deardorff 1 0 1 0
Backus 4 2 3 1
Swanson 5 2 2 2
Hutchison 4 1 1 1
Cox 4 2 0 1
Mikel 3 0 0 1
Shilling 4 2 3 2
Totals 36 12 15 11
Valley 030 504 0 - 12
Whitko 002 200 0 - 4
E - Hutchison, Cunningham, Cox, Hoffman, Waller, Ryan. 2B - Cunningham, Backus, Swanson, Hutchison, Baumgartner, Lee. 3B -ÊCunningham. HR -ÊRyan. CS - Cunningham, Clausen, Martin. SB -ÊEby, Deardorff, Ryan. Sac - Eby. PB -ÊCunningham.
IP H R ER BB SO
Whitko
Miller, L 3.1 10 8 8 2 3
Ewell 1.2 3 3 3 1 1
Burelison 2.0 2 1 0 1 3
Valley
Mikel, W 4.0 5 4 3 4 8
Hutchison 3.0 0 0 0 0 4
WP - Miller, Burelison. HB -ÊMiller (1). [[In-content Ad]]
SOUTH WHITLEY -ÊAt this point in the year, baseball coaches like to see their teams show improvement from the beginning of the season.
Monday night in South Whitley, Whitko and Valley squared off and showed their coaches how far they have come. One coach was pleased, but the other was not quite as lucky.
The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings showed coach Pat O'Connell the improvements they have made by defeating the Wildcats 12-4.
After one inning, the Wildcats and the Vikings remained scoreless, but Valley changed that in the top of the second. Aaron Cox was on first after being hit by a pitch, and Valley had two outs when the Vikings started their rally.
Matt Shilling stepped to the plate and hit a single to drive Cox home, and B.J. Cunningham laced a triple to left field to send Shilling home. Derek Eby hit a single to drive Cunningham in and give Valley a 3-0 lead over Whitko.
The Vikings held Whitko scoreless in the bottom of the second, and the Wildcats returned the favor in the top of the third. The Whitko squad came alive in the bottom of the third inning when Eric Lee hit a one-out single to begin a Wildcat run.
After Anthony Clausen walked, Jim Baumgartner hit a double to drive Lee across the plate and score Whitko's first run of the game. Then Trent Burelison walked on a wild pitch that brought Clausen across the plate and made the score 3-2 in Valley's favor.
Valley would not be satisfied with a one-run lead, and the Vikings exploded for five runs in the fourth inning. Shilling started the inning with a single, and Cunningham hit a double to give Valley runners on second and third. A error allowed Shilling to score and Cunningham to advance to third and set up an Eby sacrifice that drove Cunningham home. Phil Jackson was hit by a pitch to get to first base and scored on a Backus single.
Backus then scored on a Richie Swanson double. R.J. Hutchison hit another double for the Vikings to drive Swanson home and give Valley an 8-2 lead.
"We made a couple mistakes in the fourth inning," said Whitko coach John Strayer. "We should have been out of the inning, but they got five runs on us. We did not execute the things we needed to execute tonight."
However, Whitko refused to give in and scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, on a Ben Ryan home run and a misplayed rundown attempt, to cut Valley's lead in half, 8-4.
The Vikings managed to hold the Wildcats scoreless for the remainder of the game, and Valley produced four more runs in the sixth inning to come out with a decisive 12-4 victory.
"We are a young team," said Valley coach Pat O'Connell. "With the exception of our two pitchers, who are both seniors, we are pretty much sophomores down the line with a few juniors thrown in.
"We are coming along the way I thought we would by this point in the season. I am pleased with tonight's outcome."
"We are not in the right frame of mind right now," said Strayer. "With an inexperienced pitching staff, we need to perform at the plate and execute on the little things. We need to apply the things we are doing in practice to game situations.We just aren't doing that right now."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 12, WHITKO 4
Whitko ab r h rbi
Clausen 2 1 1 0
Baumgartner 3 0 1 1
Martin 4 0 0 0
Burelison 2 0 0 1
Waller 3 0 0 0
Miller 3 0 0 0
Ryan 3 1 1 1
Sullivan 2 0 0 0
Allen 1 0 0 0
Lee 3 2 2 0
Totals 26 4 5 3
Valley ab r h rbi
Cunningham 5 2 4 1
Eby 4 0 1 2
Deardorff 1 0 1 0
Backus 4 2 3 1
Swanson 5 2 2 2
Hutchison 4 1 1 1
Cox 4 2 0 1
Mikel 3 0 0 1
Shilling 4 2 3 2
Totals 36 12 15 11
Valley 030 504 0 - 12
Whitko 002 200 0 - 4
E - Hutchison, Cunningham, Cox, Hoffman, Waller, Ryan. 2B - Cunningham, Backus, Swanson, Hutchison, Baumgartner, Lee. 3B -ÊCunningham. HR -ÊRyan. CS - Cunningham, Clausen, Martin. SB -ÊEby, Deardorff, Ryan. Sac - Eby. PB -ÊCunningham.
IP H R ER BB SO
Whitko
Miller, L 3.1 10 8 8 2 3
Ewell 1.2 3 3 3 1 1
Burelison 2.0 2 1 0 1 3
Valley
Mikel, W 4.0 5 4 3 4 8
Hutchison 3.0 0 0 0 0 4
WP - Miller, Burelison. HB -ÊMiller (1). [[In-content Ad]]