BASEBALL: Bressie, Hall crush Salina with 4 hits, 7 RBIs

Apr. 17—All the big hits and RBIs made it clear Cody Bressie and Logan Hall weren't messing around.

The junior duo combined for four of the Cardinals' seven hits and a total of seven RBIs, leading Verdigris to a 9-1 road victory over Salina in nondistrict action Thursday. Bressie finished with a 2-RBI single and a 3-RBI double while Hall notched a 2-RBI triple and a double.

"We went through a rough patch last week and played some pretty good competition and got beat around a little bit, and we struggled a little bit offensively driving in runs," Verdigris coach Brian Keith said. "So it was good for those two to step up and get some big hits in situations to drive in runs for us."

It didn't take long for Bressie and Hall to find a rhythm at the plate, for the single and the triple that accounted for four runs came within seven pitches of each other in the first inning.

Bressie increased that advantage to 7-0 in the second when he scored Jax Ryan, Ty Gladu and Reese Roller with a double to center field, and Evan Anderson drove him in seven pitches later with a single to left field.

Hall grounded out that inning, but he made up for it in the fifth with a lead-off double, setting himself up to score shortly after on a Gladu groundout.

Gladu made a name for himself on the mound, allowing only one hit and two walks through five innings while striking out eight on 71 pitches.

He tossed four-consecutive strikeouts on 17 pitches through the first and second.

A wild pitch in the fifth gave Salina its only run, but Gladu atoned for the error with consecutive strikeouts to end the game.

"He's getting a little bit more comfortable with his mechanics, and he's a lot more relaxed on the mound now than what he was a couple of weeks ago," Keith said. "He did a heck of a job. He pounded the strike zone and had great command of his off speed."

The Cardinals (18-6) return home at 1 p.m. Saturday for a nondistrict battle against Sallisaw.

They are on a three-game winning streak entering the contest, and Keith said though this group is young, it might be peaking at the right time with less than a month until the playoffs.

"I told those guys we just gotta keep trusting the process every day," Keith said. "I've got seven guys where it's the first time they've been on a varsity field, and with the experience they're getting right now, I think they're growing as a team. I think we still have a ways to go to get to where we want to be, but I think we can still be a really good ballclub that can make a run at it later.

"We just gotta keep processing and keep working and just get the time on the field. That's the biggest thing — getting guys experience at this level of baseball."