Laingsburg at Fowler – – First Game of Baseball Doubleheader – – The Bleacher Denizen – – April 25, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft
Today, your Bleacher Denizen is headed north and west to Fowler where the Eagles will host the Wolfpack from Laingsburg in a doubleheader between the two leading teams in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference. It’s a bit nippy today, but with two shirts, a sweater and his winter weather jacket, your Bleacher Denizen hopes that he will be reasonably warm as he takes his notes. (Fortunately, it is NOT so cold that the Bleacher Denizen and/or the players will not have to deal with marauding walruses as they retrieve foul balls.)
Here are the starting lineups for both teams. Because Fowler is the home team, in this game, Laingsburg will bat first. (I hear they do things a bit differently in game two – – – .) (Okay, I realize that foreshadowing is a technique that authors have used for years; even though people don’t use it much in sports articles, I don’t believe the sport article rule makers have specifically forbidden it for reporting on sports. It’s MY blog and if I want to use foreshadowing, I will!!) (Take that!!)
LAINGSBURG
Dom Garcia cf
Meo Garcia 1b
Ty Randall ss
Elliott Wilsey rf
R.J. Garcia 3b
Jackson Audretsch c
Cam Ballard p
Everett Rodriquez 2b
Liam Esch lf
FOWLER
Conner Katich c
Carter Lance cf
Sam Vanneste p
Evan Curtiss dh
Adyn O’Rourke 1b
Mitchell Wirth 2b
Jon Ruiz rf
MaClain Smith lf
Hudson Schlak will play third base, but will not bat.
Fowler Pitcher Sam Vanneste retired the three Laingsburg batters in the first inning on a liner to center and two flies to center. Before the third out, MaClain Smith made a great diving effort on a foul ball, but just missed.
Laingsburg Pitcher Cam Ballard struck out Fowler’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the first inning. Carter Lance singled to center field and stole second base. He went to third base on Sam Vanneste’s groundout to the pitcher. Cam Ballard retired the next hitter on a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.
Sam Vanneste struck out the first two Wolfpack hitters in the top of the second inning. Jackson Audretsch singled to right field. Jake Rivet entered the game as a courtesy runner for Jackson Audretsch. Sam Vanneste struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Cam Ballard retired the three Eagle hitters in the bottom of the second inning on a strikeout, a fly to right field and another strikeout.
After two full innings, the game was scoreless.
Sam Vanneste struck out the first two Laingsburg hitters in the top of the third inning. Dom Garcia singled to right field and stole second base. Laingsburg made its third out of the inning on a ground ball to second base.
Cam Ballard retired Fowler’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the third inning on a grounder to second base. MaClain Smith beat out an infield single and went to second base on an overthrow. Fowler’s next batter, Conner Katich hit a hot line drive to Wolfpack Shortstop Ty Randall, who alertly tagged second base to double off the runner and end the inning.
Sam Vanneste retired the first two Laingsburg hitters in the top of the fourth inning on a fly to left field and a strikeout. R.J. Garcia doubled to the right field corner. Laingsburg made its third out on a fly to right field.
Carter Lance singled past Laingsburg’s diving third baseman, R.J. Garcia to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning for Fowler. Carter Lance stole second base and went to third base on a wild pitch. He scored on Sam Vanneste’s RBI groundout to the shortstop.
Evan Curtiss was safe at first base on an error. He advanced to second base when Adyn O’Rourke walked. Mitchell Wirth singled to right field; Evan Curtiss went to third base and Adyn O’Rourke to second base. Noah Schafer hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Evan Curtiss. Adyn O’Rourke went to third base. Fowler made its final out of the inning on a grounder to the shortstop.
Fowler scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Laingsburg’s leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning was out on a bouncer to the mound. Everett Rodriquez walked; he stole second base and went to third base on an overthrow. Sam Vannest struck out the next two Wolfpack batters to hold Laingsburg scoreless for the inning.
MaClain Smith was safe at first base on a dropped third strike where he beat the throw to first base. He stole second base. He scored when Conner Katich was safe at first base on an error. Conner Katich defied all the truisms about catchers being slow when he dashed to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Carter Lance.
Sam Vanneste singled to right field to drive in Conner Katich. Drew Weber entered the game as a courtesy runner for Sam Vanneste. Evan Curtiss walked and then Adyn O’Rourke walked to load the bases. Mitchell Wirth hit a hot line drive to first baseman Meo Garcia, who tagged first base to double off the runner and end the inning.
Fowler scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to push its lead to 4-0.
Sam Vanneste struck out the Wolfpack leadoff batter to open the top of the sixth inning. Ty Randall singled to right field and went to second base on an errant pickoff throw. Sam Vanneste struck out Laingsburg’s next batter and got the third out on a grounder to second base.
Noah Schafter drilled a single that eluded a dive by Laingsburg Shortstop Ty Randall to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning for Fowler. He advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Jon Ruiz and to third base on a wild pitch. MaClain Smith drew a walk and stole second base.
Dom Garcia replaced Cam Ballard on the mound for Laingsburg. Cam Ballard went to second base and Everett Rodriguez took over in left field as Liam Esch went to center field.
Dom Garcia struck out the next Laingsburg hitter. Carter Lance singled to center field to drive in Noah Schafer and MaClain Smith. Carter Lance stole second base. Sam Vanneste singled to center field to drive Carter Lance home. Drew Weber entered the game as a courtesy runner for Sam Vanneste and stole second base. Drew Weber scored when Evan Curtiss was safe at first base on an error.
Evan Curtiss moved to second base when Adyn O’Rourke was safe at first base on an error. Evan Curtiss advanced to third base and Adyn O’Rourke to second base on a wild pitch. Dom Garcia got the next Eagle hitter to ground out to the shortstop to end the inning.
Fowler scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend its lead to 8-0.
Sam Vanneste retired the three Laingsburg batters in the top of the seventh inning on a strikeout, a fly to center field and a popup to second base.
Fowler won the opener of this doubleheader by the score of 8-0.
R.J. Garcia had a double for Laingsburg. Dom Garcia, Ty Randall and Jackson Audretsch each had a single.
Sam Vanneste pitched a complete game four hit shutout for Fowler. He struck out eleven Wolfpack batters. At the plate, he had two singles and three RBI.
Carter Lance had three singles and two RBI. Noah Schafer had a single and one RBI. Mitchell Wirth and MaClain Smith each had one single.
Here is the play by play of game two. (It will be posted as soon as I finish the article.)