A tough schedule this year has prepared East Webster for what’s coming in the baseball playoffs and the Wolverines added another huge matchup last week.
The Wolverines had a Class 3A, Region 4 championship on the line when they played a two-game series against Mooreville. It was the battle between two of the top three teams in 3A and they would split.
After losing 7-1 on Tuesday night against the Troopers, the Wolverines bounced back on Thursday evening. Down 3-2 in the eighth inning, the Wolverines put the first four on base and then got a game winning bunt single from Mason Richardson for a 4-3 win.
“It was a really tough matchup – they’re really good and the best offensive team we’ve played this year,” coach Blake Hutchison said. “We had a really bad couple of innings the first game, but from the third inning on to game two, we played great. I wish we would have had the one seed, but we got a confidence boost playing them.”
In the win, four errors from Mooreville proved to be costly. The Wolverines had seven hits with two coming from Briceton Johnson. Carson Norwood had a home run and also came in and pitched a perfect seventh inning with one strikeout.
Cade Morrow started the game and had 7.0 frames with six hits, three runs, one earned run, four walks and four strikeouts.
EWHS followed up that win by taking down Kosciusko in a 5-1 affair. The Wolverines had nine hits in that game with Stetson Perkins, Kaleb Warnock and Jordan Gaskin all notching multiple hits. Mason McCurdy had three walks. Warnock had a double in the win.
Along with his two hits, Gaskin threw a great start. He went 6.0 innings, gave up seven hits, no earned runs, four walks and struck out five. Norwood pitched a perfect seventh with two more strikeouts.
On Senior Night in Cumberland, the Wolverines would have no problem with French Camp Academy. Aside from some sloppiness in the field with four errors, EWHS took care of business in a 15-4 blowout.
EWHS got out to a 9-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. The team had 12 hits in the game with a 3-for-4 night from Warnock as he drove in two runs. Norwood and Kouper Shook finished with two hits each and two RBI and Norwood had a double.
Perkins finished with a triple and Johnson had a home run.
Carson Johnson started the game for the Wolverines with 4.0 innings of three-hit ball giving up five runs with three earned runs, four walks and three strikeouts. Norwood closed the final 3.0 innings with no hits, no runs, two walks and six strikeouts.
It was a good night for the seniors and Hutchison is ready for more memories with that group.
“With the seniors they’re going to be as well-prepared as anyone,” Hutchison said. “It’s a great group of kids and I hate to think about no having them anymore. We’re so much alike and talk hunting and fishing all the time. We’re going to miss those guys but I’m glad we get some more games together.”
EWHS ended the regular season with an outstanding 20-3 record and the team was 7-1 in Region 4 play. The tiebreaker for the division went to Mooreville thanks to the Troopers’ six-run win last week.
That sets the Wolverines up for a three-game set against a team that was not yet determined by Tuesday. Whoever it is, Hutchison believes his team is ready.
“I feel like we’re as prepared as we can possibly be,” Hutchison said. “We’ve seen a lot of good arms, even against some of the smaller teams that we played this year. We’ve seen a lot of good pitching this year, so it has us well-prepared going in.”
