HUMBOLDT — Cubs’ coach Mike Miller was not pleased with how his team began the opener of Friday’s doubleheader against Lebo-Waverly, despite ending up with a 10-2 victory.
“In the first game, I would have liked to come out a little bit better than we did,” Miller said. “We came out slow before we started putting stuff in play and putting some pressure on them.”
The Cubs made up for that in the second game when they sent 21 batters to the plate in the first inning and jumped out to a 15-0 lead.
“It is always good to jump on them early,” Cub catcher Griffin Voorheis said. “We started out sluggish the first game, but we got our hitting back the second game. We have been starting out sluggish a lot lately so it was good to start hitting.”
The Cubs had ten hits in the inning and were led by senior lead-off hitter Rayce Hoepker, who had three hits including a double.
No other Cub had more than one hit, but Josh Vanatta, Dagen Goodner, Jackson Aikens, Conor Haviland, Edward O’Neal, Wyatt Seufert and Griffin Voorhies each had one hit in the game, which ended in a 15-0 Cub victory after just two and a half innings.
“It is always good to get that many plate appearances, but you would like to see it under different circumstances where they weren’t kicking the ball around so much,” Miller said. “We still hit the ball well though and that was good to see, because our offense has been a little hit and miss so hopefully we are getting on a role going into the right time of the year.”
Cooper Jaro got the win on the mound for the Cubs.
“He threw really well,” Miller said. “We expect big things from him in the future so it was nice to get him some varsity work for us.”
The freshman has seen limited varsity action on the mound this season with Daylon Splane, Hoepker, Vanatta and Seufert getting a majority of the innings, but Miller was able to take advantage of the opportunity to rest his main weapons and Jaro embraced his opportunity.
Jaro threw all three innings with just two hits allowed with two walks and five strikeouts.
“It is always good to have other pitchers besides Rayce and Daylon,” Voorheis said. “And we didn’t even pitch our fourth pitcher, Josh. It was big of Coop to come in as a freshman and get that complete-game shutout.”
GAME ONE
The Wolf-Dogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning over the Cubs with Seufert on the mound for Humboldt.
The 1-0 lead held until the bottom of the third, when with runners on first and third, the Wolf-Dogs tried to pick Hoepker off on first.
The ball got away from the first baseman and Seufert was able to score on the play to tie the score 1-1.
The Cub bats woke up for good in the fourth inning with six runs scoring.
Errors and walks fueled the big inning with the Cubs only managing three four hits, but four errors and two walks game the Cubs their opportunities to score.
Voorheis and Haviland each had two-run singles in the game-deciding frame.
The Cubs added three more runs in the fifth inning with the big hit being a two-run single by Hoepker.
Seufert gave up another run in the seventh inning as the Cubs secured their 10-2 victory.
Seufert pitched a complete game with just on of the two runs allowed being earned. He allowed seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
“That is the first time he has pitched in a game in at least two weeks with the rain outs and everything, so it was good to get him some action,” Miller said. “It was good to see him get back on the mound and get some work in against some live competition.”
Hoepker led the Cubs at the plate with a 2-for-4 game and three RBI.
UP NEXT
The Cubs next varsity game is Thursday at Uniontown.
