Gerrard Diaz, gdiaz@shawanoleader.com
Leader Photo by Gerrard Diaz Bonduel High School junior Colton Dobratz steals second during Friday’s game against Wittenberg-Birnamwood in Wittenberg. Bonduel won, 13-5.
Leader Photo by Gerrard Diaz Bonduel High School pitcher Connor Rosin throws during Friday’s game against Wittenberg-Birnamwood in Wittenberg. Bonduel won, 13-5.
The Bonduel High School baseball team’s bats had the wind at their backs Friday, even if they didn’t need it.
The Bears piled up 15 hits on their way to a 13-5 win over Wittenberg-Birnamwood in Wittenberg.
Jacob Wudtke reached base four times and hit two doubles, Travis Wollenberg added three hits, including a double, and both had three RBIs to lead Bonduel (3-1, 3-0 Central Wisconsin Conference-8).
Hunter VanderLinden added three hits and two RBIs. Jordan Richter was 2 for 2 with an RBI.
Connor Rosin, who spent six innings pitching into the wind, had a pair of doubles and an RBI.
“I thought we played well,” assistant coach Eric Greunewald said. “We did a nice job of putting the ball in play and getting on base.”
The Chargers (0-3, 0-3 CWC-8) held tough until the fifth inning, when Wollenberg hit a double to score Wudtke and break the 4-4 tie.
From there, it was all Bonduel, as the Bears scored four runs in each of the last two innings. Wittenberg-Birnamwood pitcher Keegan Miller walked the first three betters in the top of the sixth, then VanderLinden hit a two-run single.
That prompted Wittenberg-Birnamwood coach Dan Kapitz to switch to Kyler Deruchkowski on the mound, but the Bears weren’t done. Deruchkowski walked Wudtke, struck out Kyle Frischer, then gave up a two-run single to Wollenberg before the Charger defense escaped the inning.
Miller had an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, but the Chargers couldn’t get much going.
In the seventh, Rosin had an RBI double. Wudtke added a two-RBI double and scored on a Wittenberg-Birnamwood error.
In the bottom of the seventh, Bonduel’s defense retired the first three batters.
Rosin finished with seven strikeouts and three walks, while allowing five runs on nine hits. Lloyd Allen pitched the last inning.
“Connor did a nice job of keeping his cool,” Greunewald said.
Sam Szews had two singles and an RBI and pitched the first five innings for Witt-Birn. He allowed five runs on nine hits, struck out three and walked two.
“I thought Sam did a real nice job,” Kapitz said.
He said switching pitchers late in the game was hard under the conditions.
“The name of the game is throwing strikes,” Kapitz said. “They pulled away at the end because we couldn’t find the strike zone and they had some timely hits.”
Matt Schiltz had two hits, including a double, and an RBI for the Chargers. Nick Kapitz had a pair of singles.
The Bears took an early 3-0 lead and were up 4-3 at the end of three innings. The Chargers scored a run in the fourth to tie the game.
“We’re giving up way too many runs,” Dan Kapitz said. “We’re not a club that is going to score a lot of runs. … It’s going to be hard to win until we cut down the errors, walks and make plays defensively.”