Raiders use small ball to prevail over Tigerhawks

COLLINS — Losers of nine in a row, the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter baseball team was willing to try anything to get back into the win column Monday against Colfax-Mingo.

And prior to batting practice Monday, the Raiders had a players-only meeting to figure out how to break through with a win.

Whatever was said behind the scenes must have helped some because CMB managed to claim a 4-1 win despite collecting just one hit at the plate.

Colfax-Mingo junior Colin Lourens allowed a hit to Hunter McWhirter in the second inning, but all four runs scored against the Tigerhawks’ ace came on outs or a wild pitch.

CMB got four strong innings from Seth Balke and three powerful innings of relief from Brady Stover as the Raider duo held the Tigerhawks to one hit and one walk and two other C-M base runners reached on errors.

“I don’t ever remember winning a game with just one hit,” CMB coach Max Seeman said. “It comes down to executing with guys in scoring position. Sometimes you just have to put the ball in play. That’s what happened tonight.”

With both teams throwing their top pitchers, a low scoring affair was certainly possible.

Lourens was making his second start of the season, and he improved his mechanics from his first outing and did what he could to keep Colfax-Mingo in the game.

He allowed one hit, walked five, hit CMB’s Creighton Caple twice and allowed three earned runs in dropping to 0-2.

“I felt good about what he was doing. He didn’t have his mechanics where they needed to be in his first start of the season but he figured it out tonight,” Colfax-Mingo coach Seth Milledge said.

The Tigerhawks (2-17 overall, 0-14 in HOIC) and Raiders split two games last year. Lourens was the winning pitcher in the C-M victory and he allowed two hits in that one. Balke was the losing pitcher, but Milledge said he saw a different pitcher Monday.

“I thought we would hit Balke a little better than we did, but he has gotten a lot better from last year,” Milledge said. “His command is a lot better. We got on him last year and won here. Colin threw a 2-hitter in that game. I feel good about what we did and I think we are two evenly matched teams.”

The Raiders (6-12, 6-8) did not have the services of five starters and six total players last week during a large portion of the nine-game losing streak. Brad Ritter, Spencer Gauch, Brady Kemp, Nate Bishop and Brady Ross were among the players who were on a missions trip last week and Seeman sat them out one last game Monday.

That is the main reason he used Balke and Stover on the mound for the second straight game.

“We definitely wanted to get back into the win column,” Seeman said. “We haven’t had a whole lot of options with those guys gone on the trip. It came down to just not having too many guys to use on the mound.”

Balke started the game and struck out five in his four innings of work. The run was earned and he surrendered a single to Jonathan Jacobs in the third and that hit produced the Tigerhawks’ only run of the game.

Stover earned the three-inning save after allowing no hits, no runs and no walks. Jimmy Camp reached on an error fifth but was stranded on third after Stover struck out the side. He fanned eight of the nine batters he faced in the game.

“He has all the velocity in the world. If you can disrupt his rhythm a little bit, you can have success though,” Milledge said. “We have to get our hands going. We were late on his fastball. He’s a talent though. There’s no doubt about that.”

McWhirter singled to lead of the second and then Aric Broderck walked. Caple moved both runners up a base after a sacrifice bunt.

Tyler Lindemoen drove in the first run on a squeeze bunt and then Broderick scored on a wild pitch.

Caple was hit by a pitch in the fourth and he eventually scored on a bases-loaded RBI groundout by Bryce Bacon. Balke walked, stole second, went to third on an error and then scored on McWhirter’s sacrifice fly to right field.

“It’s been tough on me and all of these guys,” Seeman said. “They had a player meeting before batting practice. I wasn’t at it. They kept it alive in the dugout, which I think helped. They did a few things I didn’t like, and I talked to them about that, but having those older guys here and in the dugout helped, too.”

Colfax-Mingo scored its only run in the third. Gabe Simpson walked, stole second, went to third on an error and then was plated by Jacobs’ RBI single.

The Tigerhawks travel to Montezuma on Tuesday and host Woodward-Granger on Wednesday, while CMB hosts HOIC-leading Gilbert on Wednesday and Saydel on Thursday.