The Crest Lancers continue clobbering teams throughout the region with their latest sweep coming at the expense of the Yates Center Wildcats, who fell 13-3 and 19-4 Monday.
Still glowing from a sweep of Oswego Monday, Yates Center stunned Crest early by jumping out to a 3-0 lead before Crest freshman pitcher Kole Walter locked in and shut down the Wildcats as the Lancers scored 13 unanswered runs for the victory in the opener.
An RBI double by sophomore catcher Evan McVey put Yates Center on the scoreboard. An infield error allowed him to post another run before wrapping up the inning with an RBIgrounder by sophomore first baseman Braxton Rutherford. Unfazed, senior shortstop Kade Nilges, who had a team-leading eight RBIs, plated his two runners with a line drive and a bases-loaded walk tied the game. A three-run Nilges homer gave Crest a 6-3 advantage as the Lancers piled on the runs from there for a 13-3 victory by the end of the fifth inning.
Nilges finished the opener hitting a perfect 4 of 4 on four hits and a walk. Junior catcher Jensen Barker was also perfect in the batter’s box hitting 2 of 2 with a pair of RBIs.
For the Wildcats, McVey had a respectable opener, hitting 1 of 3 with an RBI while sophomore shortstop Desmond Quackenbush went 1 of 2.
Similar to the opener, Yates Center jumped out to an early lead on a two-RBI double by senior catcher Kaiden Rutherford. However, in a Roman response the Lancers salted the earth with an 11-run first inning highlighted by an RBI triple from junior centerfielder Henry White and an RBI double by sophomore third baseman Roy Gordon and a two-RBI single by Nilges, who had a team-leading five RBIs and a total of 13 on the night.
Crest added another six runs in the second and two more in the third to seal the victory by the third inning. Yates Center added a pair of runs in the third, but the rally fell well short.
After catching in the opener, Barker wrapped up the day on the mound with three strikeouts over three innings while allowing a walk and two earned runs. White had a solid day in the batter’s box, hitting 2 of 3 with two RBIs while junior first baseman Drake Weir hit 2 of 4 with two RBIs and Gordon hit 1 of 1 with three RBIs.
For the Wildcats, Kaiden Rutherford had a solid game while hitting 2 of 2 with a team-leading three RBIs.
Crest (8-0) hosts Southeast for a Monday doubleheader with start times listed for 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Yates Center (2-5) host Central Heights Monday with start times listed for 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.
