Moffit’s no-hitter guides Baxter baseball past Colo-NESCO

BAXTER — The very first batter in the Baxter baseball team’s lineup scored the game’s only run on Friday.

The Bolts were limited to three hits but downed Colo-NESCO 1-0 after Colton Moffit tossed the second no-hitter in Bolts’ history.

Moffit went the distance for the first time in his career, struck out a career-best 10 batters and only one ball left the infield as Baxter pulled back to .500 on the season following its win in Iowa Star Conference South Division play.

“It was pretty surreal. I never thought something like this would happen,” Moffit said. “I threw the curve ball and the sidearm fast ball in a row to every hitter basically. It was working. They were chasing the curve ball a lot. With two strikes, I threw the side arm curve ball and got them to chase it.”

Baxter put its first three hitters on base in the first, but the Bolts pushed across just one run.

Ben Richardson doubled, Perrin Sulzle was hit by a pitch and Cael Wishman loaded the bases with a walk. Richardson made it 1-0 when he scored on a wild pitch.

That’s all Moffit needed though as he allowed no runs and no hits in seven innings. He walked two and hit one and needed only 98 pitches to go the distance.

Moffit improved to 2-0 on the mound and he has 23 strikeouts in 14 innings.

“He’s had to work hard to earn what he’s gotten on the field,” Baxter head baseball coach Jeremy Moffit said. “He’s not always the most athletic kid or the most overpowering pitcher, but he really works hard to perfect his location and his command and today he was locating with all of his pitches. It was really fun to watch.”

Colton Moffit’s array of pitches goes eight deep. He throws a four- and two-seam fastball, a circle change up and a curve ball and he can throw all of them from two different arm angles. That gives him eight pitches to attack hitters with.

“I change up my angles and throwing positions to almost every batter,” Colton Moffit said. “We haven’t had to use all of my pitches yet this year, but I told my catcher, Hayden Burdess, that we were going to use the full arsenal. I think we brought out all eight pitches today.”

Aside from the one ball that was hit to Perrin Sulzle in center field, nothing else left the infield. Richardson fielded a hard line drive and kept the no-hitter intact when he got to a slow roller and threw out a Royal batter at first.

“He was locating from his sidearm and his over hand position,” Coach Moffit said. “When he’s got all of his pitches working, he can keep hitters off balance.”

The Bolts’ other two hits came from Wishman and Aiden Johnson. Wishman also walked and stole two bases, Sulzle was hit by two pitches and stole one base and Liam Trent was hit by a pitch.

That production came against Colo-NESCO ace pitcher Drew Banks, who allowed one earned run on three hits, one walk and three hit batters in six innings.

“Their pitcher is good. We faced him a couple times last year,” Coach Moffit said. “He’s their ace and an all-conference pitcher. We knew he would be good. We put the ball in play, but they made plays on their end, too. We didn’t hit the ball especially hard either. The wind didn’t make things easy for any of the hitters.”

Notes: Colton Moffit was the second Bolts player to throw a no-hitter. The first was Carter Nelsen. … Moffit’s previous high for innings pitched in one game was six, which was set last year. … Trenton Beard led Colo-NESCO’s offense with one walk and one steal. The Royals dropped to 1-3 and 0-3 in the conference.

GMG 11, Baxter 7

BAXTER — Baxter rallied from an early hole but couldn’t keep GMG down for seven innings as the Wolverines scored five runs in their final at-bat and slipped past the Bolts 11-7 during Iowa Star Conference South Division play on Monday.

Baxter trailed 2-0 after the first and 4-1 after the top of the fourth but scored two in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth to take a narrow advantage.

The Wolverines, who out-hit Baxter 10-8, took advantage of four Baxter errors and the five-run seventh was enough to seal the conference win.

Johnson led the Bolts (3-3, 1-2 in the conference) at the plate with two hits, one double and three RBIs and Colton Moffit finished with one hit, two runs, one RBI and three walks.

Trent tripled, scored one run and had one RBI, James Esqueda finished with one hit, one run and one steal and Colten Damman chipped in one hit, one RBI and one walk.

Wishman walked once, scored one run and stole one base, Sulzle had one RBI and stole one base and Hayden Burdess tallied one hit and one steal.

Cody Spurgeon tallied one hit, Cole Frasher scored one run and stole one base and Derek Rominger scored one run.

Colton Moffit started on the mound but didn’t factor into the decision after allowing two earned runs on three hits and four walks. He struck out three in 1 1/3 innings.

Wishman tossed 5 1/3 innings and surrendered nine runs — five earned — on six hits, six walks and one hit batter. He took the loss and struck out five.

Sulzle got one out on two pitches. Baxter’s pitchers walked 10 batters.

Kaleb Gill led GMG (3-3, 2-0) with three hits, two runs and two RBIs and Rider Kupka chipped in two hits, three runs and three RBIs. Colin Teske also had two hits and three runs.

North Tama 4, Baxter 1

TRAER — Baxter was limited to two hits and a slow start plagued the Bolts during a 4-1 loss to North Tama in Iowa Star Conference South Division play on Wednesday.

The Redhawks scored all four of their runs in the first and Baxter couldn’t catch up. The Bolts’ lone run came in the fourth.

Richardson doubled, scored one run and stole one base to lead the Bolts, while Trent had the other hit and Wishman tallied one RBI.

Sulzle pitched five innings and took the loss after allowing four runs — three earned — on three walks and seven hits. He struck out three.

Johnson allowed one hit in his only inning of work.

North Tama (6-1, 2-0) was led by Tyler Popelka’s two hits and two RBIs. Kayler Morris also had two hits and Kolt Knaack stole three bases. The Redhawks swiped eight bags in the win.

Josh Dostal earned the win on the mound after surrendering one earned run on three hits and he struck out four.