Another Winning Week for the Bulldog Baseball Team

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldog baseball team has woken up and is playing really good baseball in the last two weeks.  The three losses the Bulldogs have are in extra innings against good baseball teams.  The players are starting to gel and find their grove at the plate.  The defensive pieces are starting to fall into place and the pitching for the Bulldogs has been strong all season.  Coach Lokenvitz has moved players to some different spots and complimented his players on their flexibility on the field and in the batting lineup.

The Bulldogs began their week Monday in a rivalry game with the Iowa Falls-Alden Cadets.  Brayden Johnson would take the mound for the Bulldogs and the hard throwing senior would overpower the Cadet hitters striking out 11 hitters in the complete game shut out.  The Bulldog bats would jump out to a hot start right away scoring 10 runs in the first innings.  Ultimately the Bulldogs would win 12-0 in five innings over the Cadets.  Junior Brody Walton would go 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs for the Bulldogs.  Marco Guerrero, Tommy Birdsell, and Cael Burmester would all also have 2 RBIs in the Bulldog win.  Tuesday’s game in Osage would be cancelled due to weather and field conditions.

Wednesday the Bulldogs would take on the St. Edmond Gaels at home.  Sophomore Jaxon Moats would take the mound for the Bulldogs and would continue the dominate pitching performances.  Moats would pitch a complete game shut out and strike out 15 of the 23 batters he faced.  The Bulldog hitters would jump on the board right away in the first inning scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the first.  The Bulldogs would add on another run in the 3rd and 2 more in the 4th.  The final would have the Bulldogs winning 7-0.  Will Sackville and Cael Burmester would each have 2 hits and 2 RBIs.  Dawson Wikert would also drive in 2 runs for the Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs would improve their NCC record to 3-1 and 5-8 overall.

Thursday would have the Bulldogs hosting another neighboring school in the North Butler Bearcats.  Sophomore Dawson Wikert would take the mound and continue the complete game shut out streak for the Bulldogs.  Wikert would strike out 9 while only giving up 1 hit.  The Bulldogs would push a run across in the first inning to take an early lead.  Tony Valenzuela would get 2 hits, one for a double while driving in a run.

Friday night would have the Bulldogs traveling to Clear Lake for an NCC matchup with the Lions.  Brayden Johnson would take the mound again for the Bulldogs.  The Lions would score first having a big inning in the third behind a few Bulldog errors, but the Bulldogs would bounce back and score run in the top of the fourth.  Both teams would threaten, but not push anymore runs across until the top of the 7th when the Bulldogs would rally.  Wikert would hit a game tying RBI double and Johnson would shut the door to push the game to extra innings.  Johnson would finish 7 innings with 9 strikeouts allowing 1 earned run.  Both teams would threaten to score runs in the extra innings until the bottom of the ninth when the Lions would walk it off on a Bulldog throwing error.  Tucker Heeren and Marco Guerrero would pitch relief for the Bulldogs.  Guerrero would lead the Bulldogs from the plate with 2 hits, 2 stolen bases, and 2 runs.  The lose would drop the Bulldogs record to 6-9 overall and 3-2 in the NCC.

The Bulldogs return to action with an NCC game against the Webster City Lynx on Monday, then road games on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thurday.  Friday the Bulldogs are home against Gladbrook-Reinbeck.