From CJOnline:
Jake Wodtke and David Gauntt led a late rally as the Topeka Golden Giants completed a season sweep of the Rossville Rattlers with a 6-3 victory in Mid-Plains League action Saturday at Lake Shawnee.
With the win, the Golden Giants won the Mid-Plains regular-season title with a 22-8 record and earned the No. 1 seed for next week’s Midsummer Classic tournament in Junction City.
With the game tied at three in the eighth inning, Gauntt drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly, which was followed by a two-run triple by Wodtke.
“The sacrifice fly came on a hit-and-run. I just wanted to put a bat on the ball. The pitch was up so it was easy to hit a fly ball,” Gauntt said. “I really wasn’t trying to do much since it was a hit-and-run. My job was pretty easy.”
Wodtke had a 4-for-4 night with two triples, a double, and an RBI single. He stole two bases serving as the catalyst for the Topeka offense hitting out of the No. 7 hole.
“It was just one of those games where I was seeing the ball well,” Wodtke said. “I got a couple of good pitches from the pitcher and it was a lot of fun. It was a great games, two solid outings on the mound from both teams.
Nate Gieber started and pitched six strong innings before tiring in the seventh. Gieber struck out three batters, walking none.
“Nate threw a heck of a game and his fastball was on tonight. He spotted up well tonight with a big strike zone and he got a lot of ground balls,” Gauntt said.
While Gieber was posting zeroes so was Shawnee Heights product Jaren Kutzke. Kutzke threw six shutout innings before giving up a lone run in the seventh. Miles Orscheln scored the first run of the game ahead of Wodtke’s RBI single.
“I was really proud of the job Kutzke did coming in and just throwing strikes. He’s a great kids and both starting pitchers threw really good games tonight,” Rattlers coach Toby Cowdin said.
Rossville (7-21) battled back in the eight to take a 3-1 lead. Luke Bordewick had the big hit with a RBI double.
Defensive mistakes and free passes haunted the Rattlers once again as two throwing errors and two base on balls helped the Giants score five runs in the eighth for the win.Topeka won all six games played against Rossville.
“The guys played well,” Topeka coach John Tetuan said. “Rossville came out with a three-spot to put us in a hole, but this team has been resilient all season. It was a team win. We got good pitching, and we did enough with the bat. Jake kept us in the game all by himself for a while, but it feels great to get the championship.”
The Rattlers still have three games left on their schedule. Rossville will host a seven-inning game Sunday against the Baldwin City Blues and then play a doubleheader Monday in Baldwin City.
“These next games are really important,” Cowdin said. “We started to build some momentum tonight — all the guys were really in the game. The next three can help us keep that momentum so that hopefully we can make some waves in the tournament.
Bordewick finished 3 for 4 with a run scored for Rossville. Orscheln scored two runs and had a stolen base for Topeka.
Colin Toalsen retired the final four Rattler batters to earn the win in relief. Toalsen struck out two batters in 11/3 innings.
Rossville (7-21) 000 000 030 — 3 10 3
Topeka (22-8) 000 000 15x — 6 7 2
Kutkze, Garrett (8) and Weber. Gieber, Toalsen (8) and Gauntt. W — Toalsen
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