By Morgan Rode sports@newmedia-wi.com
Leader Photo by Morgan Rode Bonduel’s Jordan Boldt follows through after hitting a two-run home run in front of Wittenberg catcher Kody Szews during the fifth inning of Thursday’s Legion game in Bonduel.
Leader Photo by Morgan Rode Wittenberg’s Shane Herb, right, throws out Bonduel’s Noah Beilfuss during Thursday’s Legion game in Bonduel.
Jordan Boldt came through with a clutch hit, driving a two-run home run over the right field fence in the fifth inning to put the Bonduel Legion baseball team up 4-0 over Wittenberg.
Bonduel starting pitcher Noah Beilfuss limited Wittenberg to just one run in the sixth before Joey Wagester worked around a bit of trouble in the seventh to seal up the host’s 4-1 win in Bonduel on Thursday.
Boldt’s homer scored Aaron Margelofsky, who reached on an error to open the fifth.
“I was looking fastball and I was kinda feeling better after getting a hit earlier. I was seeing the ball really well tonight,” Boldt said. “I was just hoping I’d see a low and inside pitch and I ended up getting that and I was able to hammer it.”
“It felt really good off the bat, so I had a good feeling it was going (out).”
The first few innings of the game was a pitching duel between Beilfuss and Wittenberg’s Shane Herb. Each pitcher was able to work around several baserunners.
Beilfuss stranded seven runners on base over the first five innings before Wittenberg’s Larken Betry singled home Austin Worzalla in the sixth. Beilfuss stranded runners at second and third to end the frame and preserve the Grizzlies three-run lead.
“I didn’t think I had my best stuff either tonight, but I just had a lot of confidence in my catcher (Garrett Engel) and fielders. Just trying to work the ball around the zone and not give them anything too good to hit and just focus on really humming the fastball and try to catch them off balance with a curveball here or there,” Beilfuss said.
After a three-up, three-down first inning, defense let Herb down in the second.
Beilfuss opened the inning reaching on a bloop single that should have been caught before Isaac Boldt reached on an error. Beilfuss moved to third on the play and Boldt ended up at second.
A leaping catch by shortstop Austin Worzalla saved a run, but Bonduel’s Aaron Margelofsky came through with a two-out RBI single to right to score Beilfuss. Margelofsky was thrown out attempting to advance to second to end the frame.
Herb worked around a pair of singles in the third with some help from his defense before Bonduel tacked on another run in the fourth.
Bryce Weier walked with two outs before scoring on a deep double from Dylan Burch, who was tagged out after getting in a rundown.
Jordan Boldt’s homer was one of three Bonduel hits in the fifth.
“Just being aggressive. We had a lot of hard line drives tonight for outs. Jordan was finally able to barrel one up and get one up in the air. That was two big runs there for us,” said Bonduel coach Jason Boldt on how his team finally got to Herb.
Worzalla replaced Herb with one down in the fifth and finished the game for Wittenberg. After stranding two inherited runners in the fifth, Worzalla worked a 1-2-3 sixth.
Herb finished with three strikeouts.
“As a pitcher, you have to understand that throughout a game, your legs get a little bit weaker as you go and they get tired and that usually tends to leave the ball up a little bit,” said Wittenberg coach Dan Kapitz on what allowed Bonduel to start putting better swings on Herb. “You really got to work on keeping the ball down because like I told them after the game, the difference between pitching at waist-high and knee-high is huge in baseball. Guys can square up on the ball much better at the waist then they can when it’s down low and that’s something as a pitcher you have to overcome.”
Bryce Zoromski and Jack Fraaza each reached base three times for Wittenberg, which struck out 11 times in the contest.