Gallery by Tina Laney
New Richmond – There were no Friday night lights when Wyoming East hosted James Monroe in the War Zone.
That did not prevent the visitors from putting up a football number on the Warriors.
After a fast start, James Monroe exploded for 14 combined runs in the fourth and fifth innings to wipe out Wyoming East 18-1.
“I have been waiting for a breakout game like this,” James Monroe head coach Tom Gardinier said. “They have a good program over here at Wyoming East. I challenged our kids yesterday. They had a kid throw a perfect game, so I knew we had to come out and kind of be on our best game. We showed a lot of resilience in a lot of ways.”
The visitors wasted no time setting the tone, putting four runs on the board in their first trip to the dish.
A lead-off single by Hudson Boggess was followed by a hit batsman and a walk to load the bases.
Freshman Kadyn Hines kickstarted the merry-go-round with an infield single to score Boggess. When the throw to the plate could not be handled, Cooper Ridgeway raced home to give the Mavs a 2-0 lead.
A sacrifice fly from Kaden Lowe and a well executed double steal pushed the lead to 4-0 before Wyoming East had a chance to swing the bat.
Starting pitcher Justin Feamster and his defense did their part by holding the Warriors at bay before the Mavericks put up a big number in the top of the fourth.
“When you put up four runs in the first inning, the next out is the most important out. It can squash them so quickly,” Gardinier said. “We weren’t able to do that offensively for a couple of innings, but we finally got back into it. We are not good enough to just show up, we have to keep playing.”
Wyoming East put two runners aboard in the second inning thanks to the only error of the night for the Mavs and a single by Owen Biggs. That threat was abruptly halted by a strikeout and a ground ball out hit back to Feamster.
An inning later the Warriors again had something going after a hit batsman and a one out single by Zach Hunt. A ground ball to Hines at short resulted in a double play to stop the momentum of the home team in its tracks.
“We talk about pitching to contact and letting our defense work,” Gardinier said. “We have seven good quality pitchers. I am not sure if we have an ace per se, but we have a lot of No. 2’s and they are good No. 2’s.”
The table was set in the fourth inning for Ridgeway after an error and a sacrifice bunt attempt, turned infield single, placed runners at first and second with no outs.
The three-sport standout ripped a double to the left-center gap scoring both runners for a 6-0 lead.
“Cooper is a leader on the football team and a leader on the basketball team,” Gardinier said. “The first couple of games we took it kind of slow with him after basketball. This was probably just his third or fourth game getting behind the plate. He is a dang good player.”
Following another hit batsman, James Monroe moved runners to second and third on a wild pitch. Just when East appeared it might be out of the woods, a routine ground ball was booted on the infield allowing two more runs to score, opening the flood gates.
“That is something that I have preached to the kids. If we hit the ball, teams have to field it. Then they have to throw it and catch it again,” Gardinier said. “Walks are good, but I am not looking for walks. I want to generate some action on the field.”
The Monroe County boys made the error hurt major when they added four more runs, highlighted by a two-RBI single from Boggess later in the inning.
“I was just disappointed that I didn’t have them ready to play tonight or I didn’t do a good job coaching one,” Wyoming East head coach Kevin Hedinger said. “We just seem to have a quitters mentality now. I know I am not going to sleep very good tonight.”
Although it was down big, Wyoming East showed some life in the bottom of the inning, but once again, Feamster and the guys behind him were up to the challenge.
Cam Crislip gathered in a hard liner in left following back-to-back singles from the Warriors. Feamster then recorded the second out with his fourth strikeout of the night before Crislip reeled in a deep drive to the left field corner for the final out of the frame.
“We hit some hard balls and they played some good defense, but we didn’t,” Hedinger said. “I think they only had one error and we had three in the one inning alone.”
James Monroe added six more runs in the fifth inning with Ridgeway smacking his second double of the contest, driving in two more runs.
Hines and Boggess ended the night with three hits and two RBI each, while Peyton Gardinier collected a double and a single, knocking in one run.
