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High-scoring Comets catch Mustangs

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE Ñ BCLUWÕs Brad Barkema (33) hustles toward third base as East MarshallÕs Kam Hoskins awaits the throw from the outfield during the fifth inning of FridayÕs NICL West Division baseball game in Gilman. Barkema and the Comets beat the host Mustangs 15-4 in five innings.

GILMAN — The BCLUW baseball team sustained just one loss the first time through the NICL West Division schedule.

The Comets started the second time through their league slate the same way they fared the second time through the order on Friday night.

BCLUW sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the fourth inning and 14 more in the fifth en route to a 15-4, five-inning victory over East Marshall to complete the regular-season sweep.

The Comets (8-7, 6-1) went 4-for-8 with a walk in their second at-bats of the game against Mustang right-hander Tyler DeBondt, and they knocked him from the mound midway through a six-run fourth inning. Wesley Hamor didn’t have much more luck, allowing nine runs in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

BCLUW pounded out a total of 13 hits, all of them coming the second time through the order and beyond, and after East Marshall (5-11, 3-4) had jumped out to a 4-0 advantage.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE Ñ BCLUW second baseman Troy Dolphin, left, tags out East MarshallÕs Zane Johnson to end the second inning of FridayÕs NICL West Division baseball game in Gilman.

“I knew coming into it that anytime you play [head coach Justin] Frost’s teams they’re always going to be better the second time around, and sometimes you’ve just got to sit back and take your lumps and hope you can get back in it,” said BCLUW head coach Matt Zoske. “But if you can shut us down for seven innings the way we’re swinging it right now, you deserve to win. The second time around the lineup we really kind of figured it out.”

East Marshall seemed to solve BCLUW right-hander Logan Mann early on, starting with a leadoff walk to Austin Elliot and Zane Johnson’s two-run homer to left in the bottom of the first. The Mustangs made good on a one-out single by Zach Jacobson and a two-out walk to Gage Hulin by executing a double-steal in which everybody was safe. A pair of Comet errors prolonged the second inning and plated another run for a 4-0 East Marshall lead.

Trailing by four runs going into the fourth inning, BCLUW didn’t panic.

“A couple guys said, ‘this is nothing, it’s just four runs,'” said Mann. “Once the bats came around, it was pretty easy for us to get four. I think it’s just one person has to get it started and then I think the rest of the team comes around, gets comfortable.

“Once the bottom half [of the batting order] gets started, it makes it easier for the top guys to get going to. The whole team hitting like it did tonight is really good.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Mann was the benefactor of all the offense, and he did his part to make it stand up. He surrendered just one single and two walks after the second inning, striking out two while improving to 3-1 this season.

“We’ve had several leads this year and we’ve managed to let those slip away,” said Frost. “We’ve got to learn to put pressure on teams and put them away.”

But East Marshall’s bats went silent about the time BCLUW’s offense came to life. Blake Mann started the fourth inning with a one-out single, and Koty Kruse shot a single down the left-field line. After Jack Garber walked, Keegan Rhinehart’s grounder headed toward right field hit Garber for the second out and left the bases loaded.

No. 9 hitter Caleb Silver stepped up and delivered an RBI single through the left side and Troy Dolphin followed with a two-run double to left. The Mustangs elected to intentionally walk Brad Barkema, but DeBondt walked Calob Keller to force in the tying run. Logan Mann greeted Hamor with a run-scoring single to left, and the Comets turned the tables for a 5-4 lead.

“That was tough, their bottom of the order doing that and I think it was all with two outs,” Frost shrugged. “We could’ve gotten out of the inning and instead they scored six. It’s a learning process and being able to put teams away when you have a chance.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

In the fifth, Garber doubled, Rhinehart got hit with an 0-2 pitch after two failed sacrifice bunt attempts, and Silver walked after missing his chance to drop down a bunt.

Dolphin came through with an RBI single, Barkema walked and Keller clapped a two-run single to the gap in left. Logan Mann’s bunt plated a run, Blake Mann singled and a Kruse groundout gave BCLUW a 12-4 cushion. Garber got his second hit of the inning, this time a run-scoring single, and Rhinehart reached on a wild throw to first. Silver dropped an RBI single into right and Dolphin drove an RBI single to left to bring the score to its eventual final.

“We were more patient,” Zoske said of his team’s second time through the order. “I think we had a four-pitch inning and DeBondt had only thrown 17 pitches through two innings. We just had to be more patient, even if that means taking a strike, you’re going to get a good strike later in the count and make it count.

“It was a good job by our hitters of adjusting, and the bottom of our lineup really did a nice job. They got some hits, there were a lot of baserunners there, and when you get baserunners on for the top of our order that’s going to bring us some runs.”

Dolphin finished 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and four RBIs, while Blake Mann, Garber and Silver had two hits apiece. Keller drove in three runs, while Logan Mann and Silver plated a pair, and Rhinehart scored three times without a hit.

East Marshall’s three hits came from Johnson’s round-tripper and singles by Kam Hoskins and Jacobson.

“The defense was good behind me, they made some great plays,” Logan said. “Our defense really played lights-out and the bats came around.”

BCLUW goes to Traer today for a round-robin tournament with Waterloo Columbus and host North Tama, while East Marshall is off until Monday’s cross-NICL home game against Dike-New Hartford.

BCLUW 15, East Marshall 4,

5 innings

At Gilman

BCLUW 000 69 — 15 13 2

E.MARSHALL 220 00 — 4 3 2

Logan Mann and Brad Barkema; Tyler DeBondt, Wesley Hamor (4) and Hamor, Zach Jacobson (4). W–Mann (3-1). L–DeBondt (1-4). 2B–BCLUW: Troy Dolphin, Jack Garber. HR–EM: Zane Johnson (2). LOB–BCLUW 8, EM 4.

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