The 2018 high school baseball season opened Saturday, March 31 as Rising Sun hosted Batesville in a doubleheader. The game was moved to Rising Sun due to wet conditions at Batesville.
The Bulldogs took home a sweep with an 11-2 win followed by an 8-4 win in game two.
Rising Sun’s experienced pitching staff recorded 18 strikeouts on the day but had 15 walks also.
Twelve of those strikeouts were in game one which included seven walks, four hit by pitch, seven stolen bases, five passed balls and three wild pitches.
The opening game looked to be a pitchers dual between Rising Sun’s Brent Turner and Batesville’s Joe Bohman.
Turner had to pitch out of a base loaded jam in the first aided by a failed suicide squeeze.
After two outs in the second he walked the bases loaded before getting a line out to shortstop Jacob Bovard.
The Shiner ace finally got a 1-2-3 in the third.
Meanwhile Bohman got the first two Shiners out in the first. Turner beat out a grounder to second and Steven Jimenez singled for RS. Both were left stranded..
After a 1-2-3 second, Bovard reached on a single. Turner drove him home to make it 1-0 after three innings.
Batesville came back to take a 3-1 lead in the fourth, a single followed by a walk and hit batter loaded the bases. Lead-off Calvin Sherwood beat the force throw at second to tie the game. Quinn Werner delivered with a two run single. Turner picked him off to end the inning
Brayden Bush opened with the fourth with a walk but was doubled off on a fly ball to center on a hit and run.
Bush came in relief for Turner in the fourth and retired the side in order.
A walk to Peyton Bell in the bottom of the inning and Shiner lead-off man Kameron Montgomery reaching on an error brought Turner to the plate. Bohman didn’t give his counterpart anything good to hit and walked the Shiner senior to load the bases. He got Steven Jimenez to ground out to end the threat.
Bush struggled with back to back walks in the fifth. The Bulldogs got their running game going with a pair of stolen bases, a passed ball and wild pitch. After a pair of strikeouts by the lefty Bush, Trey Heidlage singled, stole second and advance to third before surprising everyone with a steal of home.
Bush recored his third ‘K’ of the inning that popped loose. Sam Voegele took advantage of the miscue and singled to make it 7-1 after six.
Two out hits by Colby Ritter and Max Bowne went for naught in the bottom of the fifth.
The ‘Dogs put four more on the board in the seventh with back to back singles another dropped third strike. Sherwood was hit for second time to load bases. Bush recorded his seventh strikeout. Werner became the fourth batter hit by a pitch to force in a run then Voegele delivered a two run double.
Turner suffered the loss with three runs on three hits, five walks and five strike outs.
Bush gave up eight runs on five hits, striking out seven and walking two. Both pitchers hit two batters each.
Turner reached base four times with two hits including a double and one RBI.
Jimenez had a pair of hits with a double and RBI as he drove in Turner in the bottom of the seventh.
Werner was on base four times and Voegele had two hits to lead Batesville.
The bottom half of the order played a big role as Lane Oesterling scored three runs on two hits. Drew Kiefer reached safely all four times (three walks and passed ball).
Batesville had no extra base hits. Seven of the 11 runs scored were players who walked (3), were hit by pitch (2) and dropped third strikes (2).
In game two, Batesville became the home team on the board.
After two straight strikeouts, starting pitcher Voegele issued walks to Turner, Jimenez and Bush. Freshman Landon Cole delivered a two out bases loaded single to right field that the right fielder had problems with and all three runners scored.
Jimenez was on the mound for the Shiners and gave up an opening double to Sherwood. It was wiped out as catcher Dalton Snelling threw to Turner to get Sherwood on a delayed steal attempt.
Senior Jaydin Parsons tried to bunt for a hit in the bottom of the second but injured finger. Caleb Valentine reached on an infield single but Voegele got an inning ending double-play.
The injury forced coach Kevin Wirsch into some unplanned moving around of his defense. Bell came in for Parsons and went to left field while Cole moved to Parsons spot at second.
Batesville rallied with five runs in the bottom of the inning. DH Caleb Raab singled followed by back to back walks. They scored twice on passed balls. A bunt single and two more walks put Batesville up 5-3 after two innings.
Raab doubled in the third cut down trying to score on a single to left. Bell hit third baseman Turner who threw to Snelling to apply the tag in the rundown.
A two out single by Heidlage in the fourth set up another run driven in by Werner.
Bovard came in relief in the fifth. He gave up a walk and a pair of singles as Batesville added two more runs. Clay Grunkemeyer was caught stealing third by Snelling.
Batesville’s Voegele handed the ball over to Nate Slavin in the sixth.
DH Ritter and Bell reached on a pair of two out errors.
Sherwood singled to open the sixth but was picked off by Bovard. The Dogs loaded the bases but Bovard left them stranded.
Montgomery and Bovard singled to open the seventh. An RBI single by Bush made it 8-4 before Raab came in to end a bases loaded threat.
Jimenez suffered the loss giving up six runs on seven hits, five walks and four strikeouts
Bovard gave up two runs on four hits, three walks and two strikeouts.
Rising Sun was scheduled to host Trinith Lutheran last night (Wednesday) before heading to play Oldenburg Academy Friday in Batesville. They will openOhio River Valley Conference play at home against Southwestern on Monday at 5:30.
