For everything that went right for Marmaton Valley’s baseball team one day earlier — a 17-12 win over Yates Center — Tuesday’s result went in the polar opposite direction.
The first six Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan batters of Tuesday’s Class 2-1A Regional semifinal reached base and came around to score, paving the way for a 10-0 victory.
The loss ends Marmaton Valley’s season with a 7-12 mark.
“We looked like a different team at the plate than we did (Monday),” Wildcat coach Derek Scharff said. “We hit the ball well against Yates Center. We just didn’t wake up today.”
Three straight Colgan singles, followed by a pair of walks and two passed balls staked Colgan to a 6-0 lead after the first inning.
“It seems like every year we play these guys, we have the ‘wow’ factor in the first inning,” Scharff said. “When you make them hit, and make them make plays, they’re like everybody else.”
Wildcat starting pitcher Lane Bahnsen settled down from there, even after allowing two unearned runs in the second on a pair of errors and a walk.
He retired eight of the next 10 Panther hitters, before an error and single in the bottom of the fifth led to a two-run throwing error.
The 10-0 spread ended the game at that point.
Colgan’s Tyler Brynds allowed only a first-inning single to the Wildcats’ Isaac Heskett in the five-inning shutout.
“We return pretty much everybody, so we have something to build on if they all come back,” Scharff said, noting the Wildcats have progressed from a one-win season in 2015, two wins in 2016 and seven in 2017.
Wildcats’ season ends against Colgan
