Weiser brings home third place trophy

The Weiser Wolverines traveled to Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) for State baseball this past week. The Wolverines were seeded third place in the tournament and played first on Thursday against SRV competitor Homedale. 

 The brackets were determined by Max Preps seeding criteria and all three SRV teams ended up in the same bracket. 

 Weiser was home team finishing first at Districts so Homedale took the field first. 

 Kaleb Grove got the start for the Wolverines on the mound and went two innings for Weiser allowing 5 runs on 2 hits and striking out 1. 

 Homedale jumped on board the first inning with 2 runs and another 3 were added in the top of the second inning due to Weiser errors. 

 In the bottom of the second inning Weiser was able to add 2 runs to the board and didn’t allow Homedale to score in the top of the third inning after changing pitchers to Willy Shirts.  

 W. Shirts went four innings allowing 4 runs on 3 hits and struck out 2 batters. 

 Homedale answered with 3 at the top of the fourth inning, but Weiser finally settled in and got the offense going and added 6 runs in the bottom of the fourth. 

 Brock Spencer started them off with a double and Jack Shirts added a single to advance Spencer to third. Kaleb Grove capitalized on an error, scoring Spencer, advancing Shirts, and getting on base for the Wolverines. W. Shirts worked a pitch count for a walk loading the bases and then Brett Spencer hit a nice double to score both J. Shirts and Grove. Payton Albertson would also capitalize on an error and reach first base to load the bases again. Jack Burke then hit a double to score W. Shirts and Spencer, leaving Albertson on third. Dylan Turrentine hit a sac fly to score Albertson to put the sixth run of the inning on for the Wolverines. 

 Homedale couldn’t do anything in the top of the fifth or sixth, while Weiser added another 2 runs to the board, but the top of the seventh inning made the Wolverines hold their breath. 

 Weiser changed pitcher to Koda Coers who went for 2/3 of the inning and allowed 2 runs on 1 hit and struck out 1. Weiser then struggled to get the third out and switched to Brock Spencer to finish the inning and get the win 12-11. 

 “It wasn’t pretty but we got the job done. We struggled pitching and on defense to get the third out all game long, but our bats didn’t fail us and that’s what ultimately mattered,” Head Coach Bowe von Brethorst said. 

 On offense the Wolverines had a total of 13 hits, 12 runs, and 11 RBIs. Leading the team and going 3 for 4 were both Brett Spencer with 4 RBIs and Jack Burke with 2 RBIs. Brock Spencer went 2 for 3 as did Willy Shirts and Jack Shirts was 2 for 4 on the night. 

Fruitland, May 20

 Next Weiser would face SRV competitor Fruitland on Friday night. Dylan Turrentine got the start for Weiser and went 3 and 2/3 innings recording 6 runs off of 7 hits and striking out 4. Brock Spencer went a third of an inning recording 4 runs on 1 hit. Jack Shirts was next with 2 and 1/3 innings recording 9 runs on 6 hits and finally Tommy Johnson with 2/3 of an inning allowing 1 hit and no runs. 

 On offense the stats really weren’t very different from team to team. Fruitland had 15 hits vs. Weiser’s 13. The difference was Weiser left the bases loaded multiple times and couldn’t get runners scored. Weiser lost the heartbreaker in a 20-6 final score. 

 “We threw way too many pitches against Fruitland and then couldn’t get our runners in. It was just a heartbreaker all the way around,” Coach Bowe von Brethorst stated. 

 Bright spots for the offense were Tommy Johnson who went 3 for 3 at the plate with 1 RBI. Koda Coers went 3 for 4, followed by Kaleb Grove and Jack Burke going 2 for 4. On defense, Jack Burke went to work behind the plate for his team allowing very few passed balls on the night. 

Sugar-Salem, May 21

 Weiser then had to play Sugar-Salem for the third place game. The entire demeanor and mood changed for this game. A fun and lively atmosphere mixed with the knowledge of it being not only the last game of the season, but for some the last game period. 

 Willy Shirts, the lefty senior, took the mound for the last time and pitched one heck of a game for the Wolverines recording a shut out allowing 0 runs and helping the Wolverines to their third place win 6-0. He pitched all 7 innings recording 4 hits with 0 runs and striking out 6 batters. 

 On defense the Wolverines turned the page too not committing a single error in the game. Weiser once again was the home team and recorded 3 outs quickly with a strikeout, a pop out and a ground out. 

 Weiser then had a chance in the inning to set the tone, but started off instead with 2 strike outs and a pop up to end the first inning. 

 Sugar was up again and this time grounded out to short stop Koda Coers. The next batter hit a single into center field and then Shirts struck the next batter out. Sugar would get one more runner on base and then a hard line out to Brett Spencer at third base ended their scoring drive. 

 Willy Shirts came to plate and was hit by a pitch. Koda Coers singled to short and on the throw Shirts advanced to third base. Jack Burke hit a pop fly and was able to reach first on an error in left field scoring Shirts and advancing Coers to third. Payton Albertson wasn’t able to get on but his hard hit ball scored Coers and advanced Burke. Burke advanced to third on an error and Brock Spencer hit a nice single to shortstop to score Burke. That was all the boys could muster in the inning but the score was 3-0, Weiser. 

 In the top of the third it was 3 up and 3 down with a ground out to W. Shirts and a nice throw to his brother Jack at first followed by a strikeout and a line out to Coers at short. 

 Weiser started the bottom of the third with a strikeout and then Brett Spencer took a first pitch strike clear over the left field netting that stands about 40 feet tall and is meant to prevent balls from going into the river. This was exactly the momentum that the Wolverines needed. W. Shirts was up next and popped out to shortstop. Coers singled to second base to get on, but Burke would ground out ending the inning, 4-0 Weiser. 

 Sugar-Salem would try again and immediately line out to left field where Dylan Turrentine handled the ball. They would get 2 batters on with a dropped third strike and a walk, but the next 2 batters struck out and popped up to end the side. 

 Weiser didn’t respond as well as they wanted to in the bottom of the fourth with Albertson recording a strikeout followed by Brock Spencer getting a single to center, but recording an out stealing second. Tommy Johnson hit a nice single to center field followed by a walk working the pitch count by Burke. Grove would ground out to end the inning. 

 In the top of the fifth inning it was again 3 up and 3 down with a ground out a line out and a dropped third strike out that Weiser’s defense handled perfectly. 

 It was Brett Spencer’s turn at the plate again and after hitting the monster of a homerun he decided to show off his bunting skills bunting a perfect little dribbler down the third base line and running it out to first. W. Shirts would single on a hard ground ball to shortstop to advance Spencer. Coers would load the bases after being hit by a pitch and Sugar would walk Burke again scoring Spencer. Albertson couldn’t get on recording a strikeout and Brock Spencer came up to the plate hitting a nice sac fly to right field scoring W. Shirts and advancing the runners. Weiser would end the inning with a ground out, but brought the score to 6-0. 

 Top of the sixth and Sugar still had a chance starting with a single to left field. The next 3 batters would record outs with Weiser’s unstoppable defense with a ground out to Coers twice and a pop up to Shirts at pitcher. 

 Weiser couldn’t get much going in the bottom of the sixth inning with a pop out, a ground out, a walk and another ground out. 

 In the top of the seventh, with Willy Shirts still on the mound the first batter hit a single to get on. The next batter hit a straight shot to centerfield where Albertson handled the ball for the out. The third batter popped up to Spencer at third base and then the last batter came to the plate. On the third pitch, the batter grounded out to Coers at short stop and the throw was good to Jack Shirts at first base for the third place win. 

 “I am so proud of these young men. Willy pitched great and was down to about 5 or 6 pitches left to throw, so I am happy he got it done and got the shut-out and our defense backed him up,” Head Coach Bowe von Brethorst stated. “We have had great community support all season long and the best volunteer coaches that I could ask for. Thank you Weiser,” he added. 

 Weiser had 9 hits during the contest and 5 RBIs. Koda Coers was 2 for 2 as was Brock Spencer. Brett Spencer went 2 for 3 with 1 RBI on offense. Great season Wolverines!