Bulldogs Blow Out Weldon Valley in Doubleheader

Mike Motz, Sidney Sun-Telegraph

The Bulldog Baseball team has had a tough time getting in the win column for the Peetz faithful, but they have been able to score runs this season. They have had difficulty keeping their opponents off the scoreboard, however, preventing the Bulldogs from getting in the win column thus far in the season.

But the Peetz fortunes changed on Tuesday April 18, when they hosted a double-header against the winless Weldon Valley Warriors. Not only have the Warriors not been able to keep opponents off the scoreboard, but they have struggled mightily to score runs of their own.

The first game of the double header on April 18 started at 1pm, with freshman Rhyder Bayne taking the mound for the Bulldogs and putting down the side with no damage to start the game. The Bulldogs jumped to any early 1-to-0 lead against Weldon Valley freshman starter August Filter when junior Noah Naegele belted a single, stole second base, then scored on a Rhyder Bayne triple. Sophomore Collin Fehringer then stroked an 0-and-2 pitch for a single, scoring Bayne and giving the Bulldogs a 2-to-0 lead. Peetz was able to get runners on first and second with two outs, but senior Grady White grounded out to end the inning.

Bayne kept dealing on the mound in the second inning. Although he hit leadoff hitter Jaci Sanders with a pitch, he quickly recovered and struck out the next three batters, all looking. Taking their 2-to-0 lead into the bottom of the second, the Bulldogs exploded for 13 runs. After junior Nicoli Serkiz double to lead off the inning, he was then caught stealing third to register the first out for the Bulldogs. The Peetz batters bore down and started pummeling the ball, and the Weldon Valley fielders had big trouble trying track down fly balls in the outfield or corral grounders in the infield. The bottom of the second seemed to go on forever, with Peetz continuing to connect with the ball and drive in runs. By the time Weldon Valley finally collected the third out, the Bulldogs had an insurmountable 15-to-0 lead.

Weldon Valley finally put a run up on the scoreboard in the top of the the third inning. Bayne kept up the good pitching, hurling three straight fastballs to strikeout Jon Smith, then followed up with three more fastballs to strike out August Filter looking. Senior Jayden Felts connected with a sharply hit grounder that got through the infield and gave Weldon Valley a runner on first. Felts was able to advance to second base on a passed ball, then stole third base. Billy Alloway was able to hit a grounder up the first base line that Patrick Moreno was unable to handle, and Felts was able to score the Weldon Valley run. Bayne recovered and struck out Camron Rodriguez for the final out. Peetz then put up another six runs in the third, ending the three-inning game with a final score of 21-to-1.

Bayne went 4-for-4 with three triples and 5 RBI to lead the offense. Bayne struck out 8 over three innings and gave up two hits in the victory.

In the second game, Weldon Valley was able to get an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning. But Peetz fired back in their half of the first frame, and put up 10 runs to take a big lead. The Warriors scratched out another run in the top of the second, but Peetz added four more runs to take a 14-to-4 lead. Again the Warriors scored a run in the top half of the third, but their pitching could not hold up and the Bulldogs plated nine more runs in the bottom of the third. After shutting out the Weldon Valley offense in the top of the fourth, the Bulldogs pounded out seven more runs in the bottom of the fourth to end the game with a 30-to-5 win. Rhyder Bayne had 6 RBI's on three hits while Grady White had 6 hits and three RBI in the victory. Patrick Moreno, Logan Vallier and Nicoli Serkiz combined all pitched solidly for the Bulldogs for the win. Peetz next traveled to Briggsdale on April 20 for a doubleheader, and pulled out a win in the first game by a score of 13-to-10, but then dropped the second game, after building an early lead, by a final score of 20-to-12. The Bulldogs were scheduled for their final two regular-season games on the road against Sedgwick County on Tuesday, April 25.