The Calvary Lutheran Lions have put plenty of practice time in working on defense. It showed for the final three innings of Friday's game against Vienna. It just didn't in the first two.
The Lions committed all six of their errors in the first two innings and it proved to be too much to overcome in a 9-2 loss in the first round of the Calvary Lutheran/New Bloomfield Tournament at Calvary Lutheran. The game was called in the middle of the sixth inning because of heavy rain.
"The first couple innings, we were just not in the game for some reason," Calvary Lutheran coach Rusty Bourg said.
Those errors along with four hits for the Eagles led to a 9-0 score after two innings.
With the score 2-0 in the first, McCrae Fuller drove in Gavin Stricklan with a liner to center field for a single.
Cole Petershagen added a sacrifice fly and another run came in on a passed ball.
Logan Agan got his two RBI on a double to deep left-center field in the second inning. Fuller added his second RBI with a single to left field.
Vienna (9-1), the No. 5 ranked team in Class 2, finished with seven hits and stole nine bases.
"We swung the bats well," Vienna coach Tyler Shalbot said. "We were aggressive on the bases and took some extra bags."
The Eagles started substituting in the third inning and ended up with 18 players recording an at-bat.
"That was one of our goals," Shalbot said. "We were going to try to get everybody in the game. The second string wasn't very productive, but they did their job, got outs, played defense and all that. I wasn't too disappointed there."
Shalbot also used the game to get three sophomore pitchers time on the mound.
Dylan Buschmann got the win by throwing three scoreless innings. Sutton Hauck pitched an inning, allowing the two runs. Trenton Rowden struck out four and allowed one hit in two innings of work.
"The way it's been this spring, a lot of guys haven't got any action that need to," Shalbot said. "We haven't played but four JV games and some of those guys just need work, need innings for the future."
Jimmie Wehmeyer took the mound for two innings for the Lions. Two of the nine runs he allowed were earned.
"He's a strike thrower and we made him throw more pitches than he had to," Bourg said. "They had four runs before I blinked."
Kolton Sellars, a freshman, struck out four and walked one while allowing three hits in three scoreless innings of relief.
"The pitchers are throwing strikes, we're putting the ball in play, now if the ball goes up in the air somebody's got to catch it," Bourg said.
Jared Braun provided some offense in the fourth, smacking a grounder up the middle for a two-RBI single.
Nick Stark reached base three times with two singles and a walk.
"I was pretty pleased with the at-bats," Bourg said. "I know we struck out a few times, but Vienna's pitcher threw strikes. They threw the ball pretty well."
Calvary Lutheran (0-5) is scheduled to host fifth-seeded New Bloomfield at 9 a.m. today in the fifth-place game.
Top-seeded St. Elizabeth and fourth-seeded Belle will play at 11 a.m. at New Bloomfield in the semifinals. Belle defeated New Bloomfield 8-6 in a rain-shortened six-inning game Friday.
Third-seeded California and Vienna will play in the other semifinal at 11 a.m. at Calvary Lutheran.
The third-place game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at New Bloomfield with the championship game being played at the same time at Calvary Lutheran.