An early South O’Brien lead was washed away in the rain as Trinity Christian rallied for a 12-3 victory over the Wolverines June 25 at Paullina. The hosts scored the first three runs of the game before the Tigers roared back with 12 unanswered to pocket the War Eagle Conference win.
The first inning saw South O’Brien score a pair of runs. Pete Bottjen led off with a double and Dain Moermond drew a walk. A wild pitch allowed Bottjen and courtesy runner Cole Tjossem to move up a base. The empty spot at first base was filled when Micah Davis walked. There was no place to put the next batter, Boston Riedemann, but he managed to coax a walk to force in Bottjen and pick up an RBI. Mitch Enger also notched an RBI as he too walked with the bases loaded, pushing home Tjossem. The Wolverines missed out on a third run when Davis was tagged out at home trying to score on a wild pitch.
In the second Kaedon Louscher walked but was forced at second by Bottjen. A stolen base put Bottjen at second and he came around to score the third and what proved to be the final run for the home side.
Trinity got on the board with a run in the third then took the lead with six runs in the fourth. The Tigers added a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth. There were other baserunners for South O’Brien but they never made it as far as home plate. Moermond, Davis and Jett Keith each had a single and Davis walked for a second time.
Keith got the starting nod and took the pitching loss. He went four plus innings, yielding eight runs (six earned) on seven hits with five strikeouts, three walks and three hit batters. Bottjen came on in relief with one on, one in and nobody out in the fifth. He finished the game, allowing four runs on five hits. Three of the runs were earned. Bottjen also struck out five to go along with a walk and a hit batter. The Wolverines had two errors.
Trinity
0 0 1 6 1 4 0 – 12
S. O’Brien
2 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 3