Written by Mike Rosenbaum and Ethan Silverman

 

Although most of the Missouri high school baseball games were postponed on Monday, there were several teams that managed to play.  No. 16 Westminster defeated visiting Cuyahoga Valley (Ohio) 7-1 on a cold and damp Monday evening, thanks a strong outing from LHP/OF Collin Henry and a 4-for-4 performance from junior OF Tate Matheny (right).  The Wildcats collected 12 hits in the contest while their pitching staff allowed only one.

Westminster jumped out to an early lead when 2B Connor Larson lead off the bottom of the first with a home run.  Two batters later, Matheny belted a triple off the right-center field wall, and was subsequently driven in on a double by OF Connor Einertson.

The Wildcats scored four more times in the bottom of the third to go up 6-0 on Cuyahoga. Matheny tripled for the second time in as many at bats and scored on a wild pitch, and 3B Luke Turner and SS Shane Benes each drove in a run.

In the bottom of the sixth, Matheny once again ignited the Westminster offense with a leadoff double, and then used his great speed to steal third base.  The very next batter, C Ryan Allee, plated him with a single.

Henry picked up the victory for the Wildcats after throwing five innings of no-hit baseball.  The senior kept the Cuyahoga offense off-balance all day as he worked both sides of the plate with his fastball, and mixed in a good curve and change.

Matheny finished the game 4-for-4 with 2 triples, a double, four runs scored, and a stolen base.  Larson finished 2-for-4 with a home run, and Allee was 2-for-4 with a double and RBI.

Although Westminster picked up the victory, they struggled to bury their opponent and left a total of nine runners on base.  Most notably, they could not push across a run with nobody out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth.

"We didn't play all that smart on offense.  We played good defense and had decent pitching, but we missed signs and had base running errors," coach Rich Van Gilst said after the game.  "We left the bases loaded with no outs and our 4, 5, and 6 up; you can't do stuff like that and win consistently against good teams."

"I told them Saturday at practice that the effort is there, we just need to play smarter at times -- that's the key right there," he added.

 

No. 3 Staley HS vs Oak Ridge

No. 3 Staley defeated Oak Ridge by a score of 5-3. Senior OF Isaac Geisinger (right) lead Staley going one for two with one run scored.

Warsaw vs Cole Camp

The Warsaw HS (5-0) offense came to life in a 20-2 win over Cole Camp HS. No.1 ranked player in the Class of 2011 Johnny Eierman (left)was 1-1 with a two run himerun, three walks, and three runs scored.  Myles Edwards went two for three with a homerun and three runs scored, while Brad Jelinek was two for four with two runs scored.

Strating pitcher Ryan Spry picked up the win, and contributed going two for two at the plate.