Weiser baseball pounds Pilgrims in season opener

The Weiser Wolverine baseball traveled to New Plymouth for a season-opening doubleheader on Saturday. The Wolverines beat the Pilgrims handily in both games with final scores of 13-4 and 11-2, respectively. 

 Weiser has some interesting dynamics on varsity this year. There are three sets of brothers, Jayden and Jarret Mink, Nathan McDaniel and Logan Wood, and Brody and Kooper von Brethorst. 

 Another dynamic is speed. Logan Wood and Brody von Brethorst are fast, to say the least. Normal hits, fielded correctly and recorded as outs, are not the case when it comes to these two. The speed is impressive. 

 Lastly, the number of left-handed batters on the team is uncharacteristic. Five of the nine batters are left handed, which can lead to some interesting pitching challenges. There are even more lefties on JV.

 The Wolverines started out the cold day with some wet field conditions. In the first inning, the Wolverines recorded their first run on an RBI by Brody von Brethorst, scoring Kooper von Brethorst who drew a walk earlier in the inning. 

 Getting the start on the mound for Weiser was senior Jayden Mink, who pitched well for three innings. During the third inning, some good base hitting and a walk loaded the bases. With Nathan McDaniel coming in during the pitching change, the ball was put into play and some solid fielding by the Wolverines got them out of a bind with only one run scoring. 

 The game was tied 4-4 going into the sixth inning, when Weiser’s bats started moving. Ray Calley hit a double to deep left center, followed by lead-off batter, Logan Wood, who hit a hard shot to shortstop and beat it out to get on base. Kooper von Brethorst hit to left field scoring both Ray and Logan. 

 Mink had a base hit and Kooper scored on an overthrow. Brody von Brethorst had a base hit past short stop scoring Mink. The next few Wolverines hit the ball, but right to someone, ending the top half of the sixth inning with a score of 8-4. Solid defense held the Pilgrims in the bottom of the sixth.

 The Pilgrims hit a ground ball and got on base, and lefty pitcher Nathan McDaniel responded with a smooth pick-off and an out at first base. The seventh inning was much like the sixth with the Wolverines scoring five more runs on some good hitting and some overthrows by the Pilgrims. Final score of the first game was 13-4. Weiser recorded 15 hits and 8 RBIs.

 The second game of the day started with snow flurries and wind. The Wolverines were up to bat first with Mink reaching first on a walk and scoring after a base hit by Brody von Brethorst and a throwing error by the Pilgrims. 

 Getting the start on the mound for the second game was senior Brody von Brethorst. Brody didn’t settle in as quickly as he wanted to recording two walks before a strong hit into left field scored the two runners. Von Brethorst then recorded two strike outs to end the inning, trailing 2-1 to the Pilgrims. 

 During the second inning, Ray Calley had another hit to get on base as did Jarret Mink. Kooper von Brethorst hit a ball that tailed almost foul behind third base, scoring both Ray and Jarret. Jayden Mink followed with a line drive over short stop. Brody von Brethorst hit one up the middle advancing Jayden, and after a controversial third out call with Jayden sliding into third, the Wolverines took the field for the bottom of the second. 

 Switching up the pitching, Weiser put in lefty sophomore, Jarret Mink who got the inning going with two strikeouts and a pop up to retire the inning, Wolverines leading 5-2. Weiser scored one more run in each of the third and fourth innings and did not allow the Pilgrims to score any additional runs. 

 During the fifth inning, Weiser switched up pitching again with lefty, Ray Calley getting the nod. 

 In the sixth inning, Weiser added to their offense scoring six additional runs. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ray Calley, recorded a hit by pitch for the Pilgrims, but once the batter was on first, another left handed dirty pick-off recorded a first out for the Wolverines. Ray also struck out the next two batters. Weiser finished off the second game with a final score of 11-2, 11 hits, and 9 RBIs.

 Head coach Bowe von Brethorst was happy with the team’s first outing. 

 “These young men responded well in some tough situations today. We had two pitching changes with bases loaded and everyone did their job and went to work. I was also very impressed with our hitting today. It took an inning or so for us to settle in and get past those first game jitters, but every member of our team got at least one base hit today.” 

 Weiser has a game Tuesday, March 12, and will head to a tournament in Asotin, Wash., March 15-16.