A 12-2 loss to Choctaw County in the back half of a two-game set with the Class 2A, Region 4 rival shook the East Webster Wolverine baseball team a bit.
The crew has been trying to find its offensive rhythm again and went out of conference play last week against bigger teams to try and get it. The first two games against Kosciusko on March 25 and Caledonia last Monday on the 27th didn’t work, but the team came out strong against Louisville on Saturday to get a win to close the week.
“We’ve kind of been in a little bit of a funk offensively, we just haven’t been hitting well,” coach Blake Hutchison said. “We had every opportunity in the world to win that game (vs. Caledonia). They had division that week and they threw a young pitcher and I thought we missed some opportunities. Saturday was good. We hit pretty well and only had one error on defense. We threw strikes and pretty much made all of the plays.”
After coming up just short in a difficult 4-3 loss to Kosciusko, the Wolverines were in a bit of a pitcher’s duel against the Cavaliers of Caledonia. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that a run was scored and EWHS couldn’t get on the board until the seventh in what became a 5-1 defeat.
Carson Norwood threw another great game for his team as the pitcher went 6.0 innings scattering five hits, two runs, two walks and striking out 10. Caledonia took advantage of four errors from the Wolverines and got three runs in the seventh after Norwood had exited.
Both teams had six hits in the game but Caledonia’s mattered the most. The Wolverines were led by Norwood at the plate as well going 2-for-2 and he and Mason McCurdy finished with a double each.
The offensive woes looked like they were following the Wolverines on Saturday against Louisville until late. EWHS exploded for 13 runs in the fourth inning and were able to get a 15-3 run-rule win. Stetson Perkins went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Briceton Johnson hit a grand slam while driving in six on the day in the win. Kouper Shook and Jordan Gaskin had two RBI and Shook and Cade Morrow produced doubles.
Norwood also pitched in 2.0 innings of that game with two hits, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts.
EWHS is now 10-8-1 on the year and come into this week with a 3-1 Region 4 record looking to maintain its spot around the top of the league. They were slated to go out of conference again on Monday with a road game at French Camp Academy and Tuesday played a double-header with Kemper County in district play.
“We’re getting down to crunch time now. We’ve got to get some little things fixed, but I think we’re ok,” Hutchison said. “After the Choctaw game, that took the wind out of the sails a little bit. I think that Saturday was good.
“Our focus is mainly offensively. Offense had been our strength up until the Choctaw series. I try to tell them that less is more. You tend to try and do more when you struggle when you really should be staying under control.”
