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Coldwater's Bennett Spriggs crosses home plate as St. Henry catcher Carson Huelsman waits for the ball during Wednesday's ACME baseball game at the Wally Post Athletic Complex.
ST. HENRY - It was a tale of two "halves" in Coldwater's 12-7 ACME win over St. Henry at The Wally Post Athletic Complex Wednesday night. After the teams went back-and-forth to the tune of a 4-4 tie after four innings, the Cavaliers scored runs in the fifth and sixth and added six in the seventh to pull away for good.
"We had really good approaches early," said Coldwater coach Matt Selhorst. "A lot of breaking balls early in counts, and it was good to see them go the other way with the ball. We got a lot of hitter's counts, and they did a pretty good job with putting the ball in play."
The Redskins (2-5) opened the scoring in the first with a bang. Tate Boeckman led off the home half with a triple after just two pitches, while a ground out from Owen Werling was enough to send Boeckman home.
Coldwater (3-2) found an immediate response in the second after an error put Bennett Spriggs on first to open the rally. A double from Owen Stough to right-center put two in scoring position. Charlie Stammen did his part with a fly ball to bring home Spriggs, while Ross Riethman's single allowed Stough to touch home and give the Cavs a 2-1 lead.
The lead grew in the third after another sacrifice fly from Derek Dues scored Karsyn Homan. Two batters later, Stough lined a single into center to bring Spriggs home from second.
St. Henry found themselves down 4-1 but did not go away when it was their turn to hit in the third. Boeckman's double with one away gave the lineup a spark, and a walk to Jack Fullenkamp put two on. Homan, who started the game for Coldwater on the mound, was relieved by Aaden Dillhoff with Werling at the dish.
Coldwater's Aaden Dilhoff fields the ball during Wednesday's game at St. Henry.
The righty for the Redskins swung on the first pitch he saw, lined it past shortstop and into left to plate two runs and make it a 4-3 game. The following inning saw the team tie it after Carson Huelsman's single to right field brought home Will Nietfeld, who led off the inning with a single.
A two-inning slip up might have rattled some teams on the road, but the Cavs bounced back quickly in the fifth. Briggs Howell took the ball the other way for a single to right, and a great jump got him to second for Dillhoff.
With two away and facing a 1-2 count, the pitcher helped his own cause with a single that found the grass in left and brought Howell in from second. It gave Coldwater the lead back, and they kept growing the margin over the next few frames.
"St. Henry kept us off balance with a lot of breaking balls early that got us down in the count, but kudos to our team and hitters. We got back into hitting counts and got good two strike hitting," said Selhorst.
A leadoff single from Braxton Taylor and an RBI knock from Derek Dues made it a 6-4 game in the sixth. The seventh saw 11 batters come to the dish for the visitors as they added six more runs to the total.
St. Henry's Drew Buschur waits for the ball to complete the out on Coldwater's Braxton Taylor (2).
One-out walks to Andrew Myers and Dillhoff allowed Homan's double to plate two runs with one swing. Taylor brought Homan home via a single after a long at bat, while Dues plated another on a knock that just got past third and into left.
Already ahead 9-4, Coldwater hit double-digits after a wild pitch with the bases loaded. Kraytn Homan and Landon Cruz brought in the final two runs for Coldwater, which took a 12-4 lead into the final frame.
St. Henry showed some fight and plated three more runs to make it closer, but Dillhoff rallied to end the game on a strikeout.
The righty arm finished with three strikeouts in 4 ⅔ innings of work, and surrendered four runs (two earned) off five hits to get the job done. Homan reached base three times to lead the offense, while Dues finished with three RBI. Boeckman had three hits to lead St. Henry, while Braden Wourms added two base knocks.
