Cyclones defeat Knights in 10 innings
It took 10 innings of baseball, but the Cyclones were victorious Monday night against the Kuemper Catholic Knights scoring five runs in the top of the 10th inning leading to a 8-4 victory, and their fifth of the season.
It all started with Cyclone Junior Braydon Ernst on the mound. Ernst went eight innings, with six strikeouts and walked one batter with 100 pitches thrown.
“Braydon was absolutely fantastic,” said Cyclones Head Coach Heath Stein. “He hit a little lapse in the first inning, but after that he settled in nicely, putting up a ton of 0’s until the 7th inning, and kept us in the ballgame.”
The Cyclones struck first with a run in the top of the 1st inning, but the Knights responded right away scoring two in the bottom of the 1st.
The Cyclones added another two runs in the top of the 3rd and got multiple contributions up and down the lineup, including Quinn Koesters, Stephen Leinen and Brett Heese, who each had multi-hit games. Leinen also knocked in four runs.
“Quinn did a great job getting on base yesterday and setting the table for guys to drive him in,” Stein said. “He scored three runs doing that. Brett Heese and Stephen Leinen were guys that did a good job.”
The Knights were able to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th inning to force extra innings. It wasn’t until the top of the 10th when the Cyclones scored.
“Hayden Soma had a big sacrifice fly in that 10th inning to get us on the board,” Stein added. “Brett had a good at bat after him and Stephen had a good at bat after him. Top to bottom our lineup was tough.”
With this win, the Cyclones move to 5-6 on the season. They return home Tuesday night where Cyclone Junior Franz Reisz will get the ball taking on the 6-3 Atlantic Trojans. They are coming off a doubleheader against the Creston Panthers in which they split the series.
The Trojans are led by Easton O’Brien with 12 hits, 14 stolen bases and bats .444. On the mound, Jayden Proehl has one win with 36 strikeouts and an earned run average of 4.00.
“It’ll be a battle,” Stein said. “Throwing strikes, playing sound defense and putting together a bunch of tough at bats to try and get runners on base.”