Senior Ian Wolff’s solo home run erased a one-run deficit with two outs in the seventh inning and Jake Mitts delivered a walk-off single one inning later in Wright City’s 7-6 win over South Callaway last week.
Wright City (5-8) erased a one-run deficit with two outs in the seventh inning. Kyle Johnson and Hayden Waters were both retired to start the Wright City half of the inning. Wolff stepped to the plate as Wright City’s last chance to extend the inning. Wolff came through and hit a home run over the right field fence to tie the game and send the game to extra innings.
“That’s huge for us because that’s Ian’s first game back from the Troy Tournament,” Wright City coach Ryan Raterman said. “And so for him to be able to be in the lineup and be able to contribute right away is huge…Big players make big plays in big moments. And so that’s what our senior did for us. And he gave us a chance to walk it off in the eighth.”
Wright City pitcher Chris Russell held South Callaway scoreless in the top of the eighth inning. Wright City wasted no time in their half of the eighth inning. Wright City junior Nick Moore led off the inning with a double down the left field line.
“That guy threw really hard and he wanted to show it off,” Raterman said. “And I told Nick Moore to be on time and it’s going to be there because he’s going to throw strikes. He was around the zone the whole time and he saw first pitch, ripped it down the line.”
Moore advanced to third base on a balk. After Moore reached third base, Raterman elected to use Micah Boeckman as a pinch runner. With no outs, junior Jake Mitts hit a walk-off single to center field to end the game. Boeckman scored on the play.
“Jake Mitts came in and had a full count.… He did the job,” Raterman said. “We just needed to see it through and it was a team win.”
Wright City led the game 5-4 going into the seventh inning. They allowed two runs in the inning. South Callaway loaded the bases and scored one run in the inning prior to Wright City recording an out in the inning. With one out, the Wildcats caught a runner on third base in a rundown to get the second out of the inning with the game tied 5-5. One of the assistant coaches identified the potential for a back-pick play, Raterman said. With two outs, Russell induced an infield pop up but Wright City was unable to secure the catch, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Russell got out of the inning with no further damage.
“We had a little blunder and it could have went really south,” Wright City baseball coach Ryan Raterman said. “But I think and again we come back to this. There’s a reason we’re in the Troy Tournament. We’re battle tested. Because we almost came back against Elsberry for that win. We almost came back against Fort Zumwalt North. We’re starting to roll a little bit here.”
Wright City claimed an early 3-0 lead after one inning. South Callaway chipped away at the lead and briefly claimed a 4-3 lead before Wright City tied the game at 4-4. Wright City scored one run in the late innings to take a 5-4 lead into the seventh inning.
Raterman believes games like Thursday’s clash with South Callaway will help the Wildcats later on in postseason play.
“We did a lot of good baseball things here today that is going to prepare us for what we’re trying to do,” Raterman said.
Wright City lost a pair of games this weekend to Warrenton and Fort Zumwalt East.
The Wildcats bounced back Tuesday. They defeated Louisiana 13-3.