With the skies clearing and basketball season finishing up, East Webster was ready to really dig into its baseball season last week.
It was a full week for the Wolverines as Blake Hutchison’s squad played a home-and-home with Ethel and hosted Vardaman. While the teams came out unscathed, it was another teachable week for the coach.
“We won them all, which is the ultimate goal, but there are a lot of things we have to do better,” Hutchison said. “We’re striking out too much and the pitching we face is only going to get better. We’ve got to be better against two strikes. Small ball has been good, and we’ve been good on the bases. It’s only going to get tougher.”
The week began on the road at Ethel as the Wolverines took on the Tigers. EWHS worked around nine walks from its pitching and were able to bring home a 9-5 win. Ethel had four errors in the ball game that prevented them from staying in it completely.
The Tigers did cut the game to 6-5 after a three-run fifth inning, but the Wolverines closed strong with three runs of their own in the last two frames.
Ethan Hillhouse and Briceton Johnson each finished with two hits in the win with Johnson having a triple. Kaleb Warnock added a three-bagger of his own. Jordan Gaskin started the game and threw 3.0 innings. The junior surrendered two hits, two runs, four walks and struck out six. Mason McCurdy and Cade Morrow closed the game with 3.0 shutout innings allowing just one hit, two walks and striking out seven batters combined.
In the rematch, the walks were still too high for Hutchison’s liking, but the Wolverines had no issues. Carson Norwood threw 5.0 innings of no-hit ball and shutout the Tigers with 11 strikeouts and two walks and they were able to take care of the 10-3 win.
Just like the first matchup, Ethel was only able to scratch across three hits, but the free bases would hurt the Wolverines. Hillhouse pitched 1.1 innings and gave up all three of those hits and runs while walking three batters. McCurdy came in and faced two players, striking them both out.
Norwood’s outing set the tone and he added a double at the plate with two RBI.
“I really didn’t want him to throw as many pitches as he did but he had a no-hitter,” Hutchison said. “He’s still going deeper into counts. I hope it’s just early season rust and we knock it off. Historically, he gets better deeper into games.”
The game was never really in danger for the Wolverines. They had a 3-0 lead after three innings before putting up a five-spot in the fifth. Ethel was able to score their three runs in the sixth and seventh but it was too late.
Along with Norwood’s two RBI were a couple from his catcher Kooper Shook.
The week finished up for the Wolverines as they blew away Vardaman 11-1 on Saturday. While the Rams had six errors in the game, EWHS didn’t commit a defensive miscue. Morrow and Warnock combined to go the distance in the game with 3.0 frames a piece. Morrow didn’t surrender a hit in the game but gave up a run and three walks with four strikeouts. Warnock gave up one hit, no runs, two walks and struck out three to get the win.
Of the 11 hits from the Wolverines, Johnson went 3-for-3 at the plate with another triple and an RBI. Stetson Perkins finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, Norwood added another double to his total and two more RBI and Shook was 1-for-1 with two runs driven in on the day.
Two weeks in, the Wolverines are 4-0 with another big week ahead. The team plays a two-game set against rival Eupora. The two teams played at Eupora on Tuesday and will play in Cumberland Friday night at 7 p.m. EWHS plays at home on Saturday as well against Calhoun City at Noon and Louisville at 3 p.m.
With the level of competition heating up, Hutchison wants to see his team compete better.
“You know (Eupora) wants to beat us so they’re going to be ready to fight,” Hutchison said. “They figured some things out last week obviously to beat Choctaw County. They’ll be ready for us.”
