Staff writer
The Marion High School baseball team split a doubleheader with Sedgwick Thursday in Marion.
The Warriors won a tight contest in the first game, 5-4.
Ethan Hett started the game for the Warriors. He pitched six innings, recording one strikeout while giving up two walks, 10 hits, and three earned runs.
With the Cardinals continuously able to get runners on base, Hett benefited from strong Marion defense. Jacob Harper made a diving catch in right field. Late in the game, Taylor Heidebrecht made an over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory at first base.
The Warriors built a 3-1 lead on a Matt Sprowls RBI triple that scored Dylan Seacat and an Austin Pedersen groundout RBI that scored Sprowls in the second inning. The Warriors would lead the entire way. A run scored by Heidebrecht on a Sedgwick error and a solo home run by Caleb Williams — a shot the left-handed batter pulled over the right-field fence — gave the team a 5-3 lead going into the top of the seventh inning.
Although Harper gave up a run scored by Levi Vogt on a sacrifice fly to center field by Dalyn Anderson, he closed the door on a Sedgwick comeback by forcing a fly ball to left field.
“In the first game we did a good job,” coach Roger Schroeder said. “We came up on the right end of that first one.”
The Warriors also led for most of the second game but lost 9-5.
Marion was up 3-2 after two innings. The Warriors put together all their offense in the opening innings without the assistance of a hit. Heidebrecht and Cole Lewman scored after Pedersen hit the ball to the Sedgwick third baseman who committed an error in the first inning. After reaching on a walk, Grif Case scored on a Heidebrecht sacrifice fly.
The Warriors also made a lead-saving defensive play in the top of the second inning. With a Cardinal runner on first base, the Sedgwick batter grounded out to Pedersen on the mound. The Warrior hurler turned and whipped the ball to second. The runner made it to the base safely but his momentum carried him over the bag.
Seacat, playing at shortstop, caught the Cardinal in a run down between second and third, eventually forcing the Sedgwick player to run out of the base path for an out. The original Cardinal batter, trying to sneak into scoring position, attempted to take second base. But, the Warrior defenders were alert to the play. Caleb Williams threw to Luke Steele at second base who tagged the runner out for an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Case and Harper reached on singles. With a walk to Ethan Hett the bases were loaded. Seacat took advantage with runners in scoring position, hitting a two-RBI single. The runs gave the Warriors a 5-2 lead going into the fifth.
Sedgwick came back with three runs in the fifth inning. Colby Standefer hit a double that scored Colby Huntoon and Hunter Davis. Logan Davis hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Standefer. Pedersen got out of the inning with a ground out but it was his last three outs on the mound. He finished the day with two strikeouts, walking three and giving up seven hits.
Harper was called upon to close the game again for Marion. He did not allow a run in the sixth, but the Marion hitters fell in order, victims to two strikeouts and a groundout back to Logan Thompson on the mound for Sedgwick.
The Cardinals scored four runs in the ninth. Josh Locke hit a single over Williams head at third which scored Davis.
“We brought the defense in and they chopped it over our head,” Schroeder said. “You come up on the short end some times.”
Levi Vogt scored on a wild pitch. To keep a double play an option, the Warriors walked the bases loaded and Daniel Vogt drew a walk to score another Sedgwick run.
After Cole Lewman led off the inning with a double, the Warriors went down with three strikeouts in the seventh inning.
“We saw their best guy,” Schroeder said of Thompson. “He had a real tight slider. It started to mist and nobody could see.”
Although he was disappointed with the split, Schroeder was pleased with the way the 9-3 Warriors responded to adversity. The doubleheader with Sedgwick was Marion’s first combination of close games this season.
“We need to be in tight games,” Schroeder said. “Our goal is to get to state where they will all be like that because you’re playing better teams.”
The Warriors have two important series coming up. They played Inman at home Tuesday. On Friday, they travel to play highly ranked 2A club Ell-Saline starting at 4 p.m.