Two weeks after losing by 13 runs to Wright City, the Warrenton Warriors defeated Wright City to even the season series among the rival schools.
Warrenton (9-5) defeated Wright City 8-2 Saturday.
“That was a rivalry game and I know that first game, I want to say we walked and hit 14 total guys,” Warrenton coach Eric Burle said. “We knew we were a better team than that. We didn’t play well. So I think the guys took ownership of that a little bit. And they played a really good game. They played a clean game.”
Kannon Hibbs, Tyler Oliver and Sam Wortham each had two hits for Warrenton. Caleb Clark and Joe Goldsmith each hit home runs for the Warriors. The home runs were the first of the season for both Clark and Goldsmith.
Bailey Meyer earned the win. He pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed one earned run. He walked two batters and struck out three Wildcat batters.
“In that game, he attacked the zone and threw strikes,” Burle said. “Bailey pitched in that first Wright City game and struggled big time. So I think he took offense to that and pitched really well in that game.”
Ben Peth pitched the final 1 1/3 innings. He allowed two hits and walked one Wright City batter. He struck out one Wildcat batter. Meyer and Peth both pitched in the 16-3 loss in the first matchup between the two teams.
Warrenton dropped a game to Fort Zumwalt East Saturday. They lost 12-6. Oliver had three hits. Troy Anderson added two hits.
Warrenton rebounded Tuesday with a 6-3 win over Winfield High School.
Meyer hit a double in the first inning to start the scoring in the game. Clark and Hibbs both scored on the double. Clark walked with one out in the inning and Hibbs singled to reach base. Meyer scored later in the inning on a double by Oliver.
Burle believes Peth’s strong first inning and the quality early at-bats led to the early lead.
“The guys have been swinging it really well,” Burle said. “And they were aggressive early. I mean they weren’t holding back. And they were extremely aggressive at the plate and attacking balls in the zone. So that was big.”
Warrenton added one run in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. Anderson hit a double with two outs in the inning. Anderson advanced to third base on a passed ball and scored on Clark’s RBI single.
Winfield scored two runs in the top half of the fourth inning to trim the Warrenton lead in half. Winfield infielder Brady Creech singled with one out in the inning. Creech stole second and third base. He scored on Logan Havican’s double. Domanick Callaway hit a single. Havican advanced to third and Callaway advanced to second base on the play. Dominic Ohlms singled to score Havican. After a mound visit, Peth stepped off the mound and threw Ohlms out as Ohlms was attempting to run to second base. Peth struck out Cody Weber to end the Winfield threat.
Warrenton responded with one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two outs and no one on base, Hibbs doubled. He reached third base and scored on wild pitches.
Winfield scored one run in the top of the fifth inning to once again trim the Warrenton lead to two runs. Peter Nicholl singled to lead off the inning and later scored on an infield ground ball.
Warrenton added one run in the bottom of the sixth inning to regain a three-run lead.
Peth led off the inning with a walk. He stole second and third bases. He scored on Clark’s RBI single.
Winfield got the leadoff hitter on base to start the seventh inning. After Weber advanced to second base on a dropped third strike, Peth struck out Nicholl to get the first out of the inning. Burle noted the importance of Peth pitching into the seventh inning. He pitched 6 1/3 innings.
“That was huge because that was kind of an achilles heel of ours last year and even early on this year is just not throwing strikes,” Burle said. “Not getting guys deep into games. I mean last year we only had one guy I think throw more than four innings all year. And now we’ve had it happen multiple times. Ben’s pitched really well as of late here.”
Anderson came into the game to get the final two outs. Anderson recorded the final two outs on a groundout and flyout.
The win over Winfield moves Warrenton to 4-0 in conference action. Warrenton is scheduled to play at Orchard Farm Wednesday in a conference matchup. The game is scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m.