Christian Roduner dives back to first
Yet considering each team entered the twinbill with undefeated records, a split really wasn’t all that demoralizing for either as well.
Rossville handed Perry its first loss of the season in rather emphatic fashion, routing the Kaws 10-0 in the opener. Perry got its revenge, however, returning the favor by dealing the Bulldogs their first setback with a 7-5 victory in the nightcap.
“That’s a good ball team and a team like that, with the kind of pitching they ran out, they can do well in 4A,” Swart said. “They’ve got good arms, solid defense and have good hitters. It was a good matchup for us and I think our team will grow by playing a good team like that.”
Houk agreed.
“You have to have games like this to see what kind of character your team has,” Houk said. “It’s easy to beat teams 15-0 — you can be happy doing that all day long. But what do you do when you have a little bit of adversity? I was really pleased with how we responded and that’s a really good team over there.”
Really good would describe the effort Rossville got from senior ace Marcus Catron. The righty completely silenced Perry’s bats in the opener, holding the Kaws to just one hit in the game.
He got all the support he needed when the Bulldogs plated a run in the bottom of the first, but Rossville broke the game open with a six-run fourth inning. Jack Steckel smacked a three-run double to key the big inning and Devin Morris followed with a two-run homer.
The Bulldogs ended things in the fifth with three more runs, outhitting the Kaws 9-1 in the contest and taking advantage of five Perry errors
“Marcus threw really well in the first game, threw a lot of strikes,” Swart said. “We played solid defense behind him and you can’t ask for anything more out of your starting pitcher than what he gave us.”
Catron used his bat to get Rossville going in the second game, delivering an RBI single in the first for a quick 1-0 lead.
After being shut down for the first two innings, however, Perry’s bats finally awoke. Zach Linquist stroked an RBI double down the left field line in the third, starting a three-run frame and stretch where the Kaws scored in four straight innings.
Rossville had an answer for Perry early, countering with three run of their won in the third with Catron belting an RBI double off the centerfield fence and Corbin Horak driving in another. The Bulldogs matched Perry’s run in the fourth with one, but the Kaws tied the game in the fifth on Charlie Shuck’s RBI single.
Linquist then took the mound and shut down Rossville the rest of the way, striking out the side in the fifth and fanning six in three innings. Perry broke through in the sixth when Linquist and Bowen Cunningham led off with singles and three Rossville errors led to the decisive runs.
“A good ball club like that is going to take advantage of any extra outs you give them,” Swart said after watching his team commit six errors in the second game. “We harp on the kids to stay focused in and we really haven’t had to deal with that much this season, But you get in a tight ball game like that, you live and you learn.”
Perry finished the second game with 13 hits, salvaging the split to move to 10-1. Rossville fell to 9-1.
“We haven’t lost a doubleheader in two years, and they kind of did the same thing to us last year,” Houk said. “They beat us 13-4 in the first game and then we came back and beat them 2-1 in eight innings. I’m really proud of the guys for coming back because that’s not an easy thing to do when you have one hung on you like we did. A few years ago, that wouldn’t have happened but now we believe in ourselves a whole lot more.”
ROSSVILLE 10-5, PERRY-LECOMPTON 0-7
Perry-Lecompton 000 00 — 0 1 5
Rossville 100 63 — 10 9 2
Bond, Shuck (4) and Fast. Catron and Nitsch. WP — Catron. LP — Bond. 2B — Rossville: Steckel. HR — Rossville: Morris.
Second game
Perry-Lecompton 003 112 0 — 7 13 2
Rossville 103 100 0 — 5 8 6
Scrimsher, Munoz-Crow (4), Linquist (5) and Cunningham. Nitsch, Th. Horak (6) and Woodcock. WP — Linquist. LP — Nitsch. 2B — Perry: Linquist; Rossville: Catron.
Records — Perry-Lecompton 10-1, Rossville 9-1.
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