It was a productive week for the Washington High School baseball squad.
Playing a pair of road games, the Blue Jays (3-9, 1-2) claimed their first GAC North victory Tuesday over St. Charles at Blanchette Park 8-0 and lost a 9-8 decision Wednesday to Francis Howell at C&H Park.
Francis Howell is the defending Class 5 state champions.
“Our kids are really starting to play,” said Washington Head Coach Scott Bray. “We had the best practice of the year on Monday and it carried over into these two games.”
St. Charles
Washington cruised to an 8-0 win over St. Charles (3-13, 0-6).
“It was a good game for us,” said Washington Head Coach Scott Bray. “We had no errors and did not strike out once.”
Jared Walde pitched the first four innings to earn his second win of the season. He registered three strikeouts.
Justin Schuler and Luke Hasenjaeger both pitched in relief, helping preserve the shutout.
The Blue Jays’ three pitchers allowed five hits to St. Charles batters.
Offensively, Washington collected 10 hits in the contest.
Walde helped himself at the plate by belting a home run, finishing with two RBIs.
Brock Hopkins, Dilan Bollmann, Dustin Howard, Mike McGilvray, Phillip Straatmann, Andrew Sumner and Walde each added one hit.
Ryan Barnoski scored two runs and had one RBI. McGilvray had one walk, one RBI, one run and two steals. Bollmann had one walk, one run and two steals. Hopkins scored twice and had one RBI. Howard scored one run. Straatmann added one RBI. Sumner and Schuler both drew a walk.
Francis Howell
Playing against one of the top baseball teams and programs in Missouri, Washington lost 9-8 Wednesday to Francis Howell.
“Our kids are really starting to play. We had the best practice of the year on Monday and it has carried over into these two games. We gave the defending Class 5 state champs all they wanted and just couldn’t hold on for the win,” Bray said. “We are starting to play with more confidence. We can become a very scary team to play. Our players understand that they can and will compete with anyone.”
Trailing 5-3 after five innings, the Blue Jays scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to grab an 8-5 advantage.
Francis Howell (16-6) tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and won the game with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Washington scored two runs in the top of the first inning, one in the fourth and five in the sixth. Walde connected for a two-run double in the first inning.
Both teams used four different pitchers in the contest.
Howard pitched a scoreless first inning. Hopkins allowed one run in the second frame. Hasenjaeger gave up three runs in the third. McGilvray tossed the fourth and fifth innings, allowing one run. Howard came back and pitched the sixth and seventh innings, allowing four runs.
“We had a game plan of going a pitcher per inning,” Bray said. “It worked for quite awhile. Our bats came to life. We received some key hits with runners on base.”
Walde finished the game with two hits, one walk, three RBIs and one run.
Hasenjaeger added two hits, including a double, with one RBI and one run.
Howard (double), Bollmann, Hopkins and McGilvray each had one hit. Howard added two RBIs and one run. Hopkins walked twice and scored two runs. McGilvray had two walks, one RBI and one run. Bollmann walked twice and scored a run.
Kyle Nuetzel (one home run), Calvin Munson, Kyle Nelson, Jake Hellwig and Nate Green each had two hits for Howell.
Austin Schneider pitched a scoreless seventh inning to earn the win.
