May 17, 2019 at 10:59 a.m.
Vikings trip Barneveld in baseball match-up
Entering action Tuesday, the Vikes held down first place in the East at 10-1 and were 16-3 overall. They have a twin bill at Highland Friday at 4:30 p.m. and play at Mount Horeb Monday at 5 p.m. vs. a Badger Conference South foe.
The Vikings were led by a very solid complete game four-hitter tossed by Carter Ruegsegger in which the senior right-hander struck out five and walked no one. The Vikings were assisted by a Barneveld pitching staff issuing 11 bases on balls in addition to three Eagles' errors. Pec scored six runs in the second inning, added two in the third and one in the fifth. The six run second was highlighted by a two run single from Hunter Enloe and a follow-up RBI singles from Colton Schraepfer and Ruegsegger.
Zander Brunker provided a clutch two-run single in the third inning and teammate Everett Johnson had a RBI single in the fifth. Johnson finished 2x5 with the double, Enloe was 2x3 with two RBIs and Ruegsegger was 2x4.
"The story of the game was us being able to get some timely hits, Carter's pitching was very solid, with his 4-hitter and no walks, and obviously, receiving the benefit of 11 walks was a factor," said Strommen.
Barneveld coach Lance Schmitz agreed the walks and errors contributed to the loss.
"They came at crucial times," Schmitz said. "The three errors came in the same inning and the walks were the most we had this season. We may have been pumped too much."
In games last week, the Vikings cruised past visiting Black Hawk 13-0 Tuesday, scoring three runs in the first frame, three in the third and seven in the sixth, while out-hitting the Warriors 10-1.
Ruegsegger, Lane Busser and Johnson all saw mound time with Ruegsegger getting the 'W' in a game where the hurling trio combined to fan 10.
Brunker was 2x5 and Bo Hendrickson was 3x4 and he drove in four runs.
"Carter was really sharp on the mound for us and we took advantage of the nine walks issued and four hit batsman to go along with 4 errors."
Pecatonica dropped a pair of games Friday night in western Lafayette County, losing two to the Shullsburg Benton co-op, 4-2, and 6-0. Pec players out-hit their hosts 11-7 in game one but were hurt by two errors and the lack of hitting with runners in scoring position.
"We seemed to leave runners on base in every inning, 10 in total, but we just could never come up with a timely hit when we really needed it."
"Carter Ruegsegger came on and pitched well in relief but the difference was that our opponents were able to get key base hits in key moments," added Strommen.
Schraepfer was 3x4, Lane Busser was 2x3 and Brunker was 2x4.
"In the second game, we were shut out 6-0 in a game in which we only had two hits. Hunter Enloe struck out seven and gave up seven hits and reliever Dakota Doescher came in and struck out three - and frankly our pitching deserved a better fate - but again we couldn't come up with much offense in this one. We left the bases loaded in the first inning going down on back-to-back strikeouts, looking at pitches in both cases. Give credit to Shullsburg-Benton (19-1, 11-0) as clearly, they came up in the clutch today, had the big hits and were the better team."
