The Wright City baseball team is heating up at the right time. 

With six straight wins under their belt, the Wildcats are surging into the final stretch of the season and have climbed to second in the EMO conference standings. 

Over their dominant run, Wright City has outscored its opponents 83-16. 

“When they go out there, they want to compete and be successful and they work very hard to accomplish their goals,” Wright City coach Cody Bair said. 

At the heart of the Wildcats’ offensive explosion is senior Jake Orf. Over the last six games, Orf has been nearly unstoppable, batting .762 with two home runs and 15 RBIs. 

“He’s making sure to get his pitch and when he gets it, he hits it hard,” Bair said. “The sophomores have been stepping up too but it’s kind of led by (Orf).” 

Wright City’s underclassmen are also turning in solid efforts in big moments. 

“The biggest thing is our younger guys are starting to come into their own,” Bair said. “As a whole, we’re taking a lot better approaches at the plate, forcing pitchers to pitch to us and swinging at pitches that we can handle. Our fielders are doing a nice job making the plays.” 

The pitching staff – Kolby Bass, Drew Elsenrath, Logan Rose and Cameron Moyer – has also impressed Bair. 

“Our pitchers have been doing a great job attacking the zone and making the plays behind them,” he said. 

Bair noted the team has found its groove. 

“I have seen a lot of growth with our guys and they’ve been able to achieve what is expected,” Bair said. “When those younger guys started to get more comfortable, I felt like that took a little bit of pressure off the older guys and they started to relax and just do their thing – we’ve had success because of that.” Rather than a definitive turning point, Bair says the team’s rise has been a steady climb.

“We could see some of the things that we were doing work, so then it was just focusing on what we could control and letting it play where it was – that’s what we’ve been doing since,” Bair said. 

His trio of seniors, Elsenrath, Orf and Micah Boeckman, have also played big roles in their success. 

“All three seniors are contributing in big ways to the team,” Bair said. 

Bair emphasized that maintaining consistency will be key for the team moving forward. 

“We just gotta continue to do what we're doing,” he said. “We have to work hard every single pitch, stay focused every pitch and grind out pitch by pitch. If we can do that over and over again, we should be in a good place.” 

Wright City will play at 4:30 p.m. on May 8 at home against Wellsville-Middletown for senior night.