Highland 18U Bulldogs parlay big 2nd inning, clutch relief work into road win
When the dust settled, Highland’s 18U baseball team had the perfect finish to a perfect week Saturday, as the Bulldogs visited Mascoutah and posted a solid 4-1 victory.
A three-run second inning started by Carter Wiegman’s run-scoring single and clutch relief pitching from Tyler Robards in the seventh inning allowed the Bulldogs to hold off host Mascoutah.
The victory wrapped up a strong week for the Bulldogs, who beat Mascoutah 2-0 at P.I.C. in Pierron on June 22 and defeated Piasa Southwestern 7-2 before sweeping a twin bill from Trenton 3-1 and 4-3 on Sunday.
Highland is now 11-3 and Wiegman said he feels the Bulldogs are finally setting into a good roll.
“I think we’ve been settled in for the last couple of games, so we’re finally getting in the groove,” Wiegman said.
Wiegman helped get that good groove going against Mascoutah in the top of the second, as his RBI single scored Chase Wilson for a 1-0 lead
“It was a good head start for the game,” Wiegman said. “We know that we’ve played them before and we beat them 2-0 the first game, so we knew it was going to be a close game, so it was good to have that kickstart in the second inning.”
Kolby Frey drew a walk with two out and then Robards singled home Wiegman for a 2-0 lead. Catcher John Walker capped the three-run surge with an RBI hit to right, making it 3-0.
“Carter came up big there and was able to get a big base hit and put us up,” Highland manager Kyle Schmitt said. “Overall, on the day, we didn’t hit very well, so every run we were able to scrape (by). We got the runs mostly on their mistakes and that’s what you have to do to win ballgames.”
The Bulldogs also got big help from their defense as center fielder Landon Oestringer robbed Mascoutah first baseman Ryan Norwood of an extra base hit with a running fall-back catch near the fence in rightcenter field in the bottom of the fourth inning.
“Landon will catch anything out there so every time it’s out there, I’m pretty confident it will be caught,” Schmitt said. “Our infield has gotten better since the beginning of the year, so I’m happy with the way the defense has been playing right now.”
Mascoutah made it 3-1 in the bottom fourth on Brendan Brock RBI single. Highland picked up an insurance tally in the top of the seventh on Logan Doll’s hit that scored Bryce Iberg for a 4-1 cushion.
That set the stage for Robards to finish off the game in the seventh. Robards got into a bases loaded jam, but, after a meeting at the mound, the right-hander settled down and struck out Derek Plab and forced Brayden Knoebel to line out to Frey at third to end the game.
“He (Coach Schmitt) just told me to throw strikes and pound the strike zone there and to try to get out of the inning real quick,” Robards said. “It was a little bit more of challenge going three innings instead of two. It was a good way to finish out the game.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2020 at 1:19 AM.