Prep baseball: Old Abes shine on the mound in win over Warriors
Apr. 27—The Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes baseball team swept their season series with the Rice Lake Warriors with a win at Carson Park in Eau Claire on Thursday.
The Old Abes won 4-1 at their home ballpark to complete the season sweep. They also defeated the Warriors in Rice Lake on Tuesday, by a score of 4-1 as well.
With the win, the Old Abes have a 2-4 record in Big Rivers Conference play so far, while the Warriors are 1-5. Memorial was swept by River Falls and Hudson to begin 0-4. Rice Lake split their games with Menomonie and were swept by Chippewa Falls and Memorial.
Thursday's game began with a few scoreless innings by Memorial sophomore starting pitcher Cooper Jesperson and Rice Lake senior starting pitcher Thomas Richter.
The Old Abes threatened in the second inning with runners on the corners but a rocket line drive hit by sophomore shortstop Blake Bugher was caught by Warriors junior third baseman Easton Stone to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.
In the third inning, Memorial got the scoring started with an RBI triple by junior third baseman Leo Lauscher. Richter hit his next batter and then was replaced on the mound by senior Tyson LaPoint, who started the game at second base.
Right after LaPoint was put in, Memorial pulled off a double steal to score Lauscher and take a 2-0 lead. A few pitches later, Memorial junior designated hitter Tyler Iverson knocked in a third run with a ground ball to put the Old Abes up 3-0. LaPoint got the next two Memorial hitters out to end the inning.
To begin the fourth, Memorial brought in junior Sawyer Stein to pitch, who started the game at first base. Jesperson had seven strikeouts in his three shutout innings on the mound to begin the game. Stein pitched the rest of the way on the mound for the Old Abes.
Memorial tacked on another run in the fourth inning with an RBI hit by Stein.
Stein got his first six batters out to begin his time on the mound, but the Warriors got on the board in the sixth. However, he pitched out of trouble in what could have been a big inning.
After an infield hit by the Warriors and an error in the field by the Old Abes, the Warriors loaded the bases with one out after a single by junior Kalvin Kelsey. The next hitter hit a potential inning-ending grounder but after getting a runner out at home, the throw to first to turn the double play went over the first baseman's head, allowing a runner to score for the Warriors.
They had runners on second and third with two outs, but Stein struck out sophomore Zach Orr to get out of the inning with only one run surrendered. The Old Abes led 4-1 going into the final inning.
Stein got the first two Warrior hitters out to begin the last inning, but sophomore Tanner Koltunski singled and LaPoint drew a walk to bring the typing run to the plate. However, Stein forced Stone to ground out to end the game.
Next up for the Old Abes, they have two games against their crosstown rival, the Eau Claire North Huskies, on Tuesday and Thursday next week at Carson Park. Both games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
As for the Warriors, they have a non conference game on the road against Northwestern on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and two games next week against River Falls. They will have one at home and one on the road in River Falls, with both scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
