Tensions were running high Thursday night when South Winn (7-4, 4-2 UIC) hosted the Turkey Valley Trojans (5-8, 5-2 UIC). The front four innings were loaded with South Winn runs, but neither team would let anything through in the final three, ending 9-1 for the Warriors.
South Winn started the top of the first with a strong defense, shortstop Ethan Luzum firing three stopped grounders to first to end TV’s time at the plate after just four batters.
TV only let four up to the plate as well, with Carson Wenthold getting tagged out on his way to second, and Garrett Dietzenbach and Oliver Schmitt both catching fly balls to close out the inning.
South Winn started to turn the tide in the second, staving off Trojan advances once again and scoring three runs of their own. Logan Hageman and Briar Tigges both were batted around the bases by their teammates, and Dayten Ondrashek took advantage of some passing errors to make it to home.
TV tried to take control in the third, when Garrett Kurtenbach was able to send Noah Hanson home on a base hit, but that would end up being their only run of the game. Jordan Buchheit threw two strikeouts to end the top of the third frame and sent South Winn into their most commanding inning at the plate.
The Warriors showed patience and precision at the bottom of the fourth, with Jacob Herold, Nick Holien and Ondrashek all taking advantage of more passing errors to put three more on the board. Cael Kuboushek, Carson Wenthold, and Luzum rang the total score up to nine when their team brought them home with some strategic batting. The streak ended when TV catcher Noah Hanson was able to tag out Keagen Streeter on his way to home.
The rest of the game went by in a blink, with no runs allowed on either side. The outs were racking up fast, and the game ended at the top of the seventh when Holien caught a flyball from Hanson in the outfield, giving the Warriors the win at 9-1.
“I like the way the boys competed, we just have to eliminate the one tough inning in the field,” Turkey Valley coach Dan Stepan said.
South Winn coach Alex Smith was also in good spirits with the game he got from his Warriors.
“I felt good about the progress we made in this game in all facets,” Smith said. “Our guys came focused and improved their approaches at the plate from what we had been seeing earlier in the week. Hopefully this gives us some good momentum moving forward.”
R H E
T. Valley 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 4
S. Winn 0 3 0 6 0 0 0 9 10 1
SW stats
Jordan Buchheit (WP) – 6IP, 1R, 0ER, 4H, 5K, 1BB; Carson Wenthold (RP)- 1IP, 0R, 0H, 0K, 0BB
1B – Ethan Luzum 3; Nick Holien 2; Cael Kuboushek 1; Wenthold 1; Logan Hageman 1; Briar Tigges 1; Dayten Ondrashek 1; RBI – Holien 2, Ondrashek 2, Jacob Herold 1, Tigges 1 SB – Sam Conway 2; Ondrashek 1
TV stats
Kalvin Langreck (LP) – 3-1/3IP, 9R, 4ER, 3BB, 2K; Calvin Bodensteiner (RP) – 2-2/3IP, 3H, 3BB, 2K
1B – Noah Hanson 2, Bodensteiner 1; Garrett Kurtenbach 1; Carson Busta 1; Langreck 1; RBI – G. Kurtenbach 1
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