YATES CENTER — Yates Center High’s baseball Wildcats broke back into the victory column in a big way Monday.
The Wildcats scored in every inning of their 12-2 opener over visiting Erie.
In the nightcap, pitchers Ben Cook and Shane Shield combined for a four-hit shutout in the 10-0 victory.
THE SWEEP lifts the Wildcats to 6-12 on the season, with a hometown showdown against Marmaton Valley set for Thursday.
Erie rallied with two outs in the first of Game 1 to take a quick 1-0 lead, but Yates Center responded quickly. Kage Beck singled and came around to score on Evan McVey’s sacrifice fly to even the score. Yates Center took the lead for good in the bottom of the second. Shield reached on an error and scored on a Colton Burkholder single. Cook followed with a two-out double to make it 3-1.
Two hit batsmen led off Yates Center’s third. Braxtyn Rutherford bunted in a run before Jordan Bishop hit a sac fly and Beck singled in a run. Two more Wildcat runs followed on passed balls to make it 8-2.
Gavin Riles tripled and scored on an error in the fifth to push the lead to 9-2. McVey singled home a run in the fifth, Blake Morrison followed with an RBI grounder, and the game ended when McVey scampered home on an error because the game had reached the 10-run mercy rule threshold.
Morrison scattered six hits over five innings with six strikeouts.
Cook went 3-for-4 with a double, while Beck singled twice and Riles had a triple. McVey, Morrison, Shield and Rutherford all had singles.
A big third inning propelled Yates Center to the Game 2 win.
After Riles tripled home Morrison for a 1-0 lead in the second, the Wildcats took full control in the third. Morrison was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 2-0, Riles followed with a bases-loaded walk, and Rutherford singled home a run to make it 4-0. Kyler Sievers added another bases-loaded walk and Brogan McConaghie followed with an RBI grounder, making it 6-0.
Austin Sievers walked and scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the fifth. Burkholder did the same, and McConaghie scored on a Red Devil error to end the game.
Cook pitched four shutout innings, scattering four hits with five strikeouts. Shield pitched a hitless inning of relief.
Riles had Yates Center’s only extra-base hit, a triple. Cook, Rutherford and Shield chipped in with singles.
In softball action, Yates Center dropped a 12-1 decision in the opener but rallied for a 6-4 victory in the nightcap.
