COTTONWOOD FALLS — Crest High is two steps away from another first in the program’s young history — a perfect regular season.
The Lancers improved to 18-0 Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep over Chase County, winning 2-0 and 7-3.
Crest has two games remaining, a home doubleheader Thursday afternoon against Jayhawk-Linn before the Class 2-1A Regional Tournament opens next week.
Crest followed a similar pattern in both victories over the Bulldogs: sterling pitching and timely hitting.
Lancer hurler Trevor Church extended his scoreless inning streak to 28 — he has yet to allow a single run this year — by throwing four hitless innings in the opener. He walked one and struck out four.
He was hardly alone in keeping Chase County bats silent. Jack White came on in relief, and threw three more shutout innings to seal the win. He allowed two hits and struck out two, with a walk.
Avery Blaufuss led the offense with a pair of singles and both of Crest’s RBIs. Holden Barker also singled twice and scored a run, while Church, Kaden Nilges and Rogan Weir all had singles. Stetson Setter also scored a run.
A FOUR-RUN third inning was key in the Game 2 victor, behind the pitching of Setter and Blaufuss.
Setter pitched two hitless, scoreless and struck out four. Blaufuss scattered seven hits with six strikeouts over five innings of work.
Eight of the nine Lancers in the starting lineup wound up with hits, led by White’s 3-for-4 performance with a double and two RBIs. Setter had a single and double and two RBIs.
Church and Karter Miller both singled twice. Miller also had an RBI. Weir chipped in with a double, and Ryan Golden, Barker and Bryson Goodell all had singles.
