HOISINGTON — Hoisington pitcher Derek Boxberger performed his best against No. 1 state-ranked Nickerson. The Panthers’ efficient hitters did their damage hitting to the opposite field in a 9-0 regional baseball victory over the Cardinals. It marked the Panthers’ seventh shutout of the season.
Nickerson pitcher Carson Cornelius (6-0) struck out six batters and yielded a single to Braxton Donovan. Cardinal Jacob Specht walked and Holt Hanzlick reached on an error. Lefthanded reliever Johnny Huggard struck out the side in the seventh inning.
The Panthers’ hitters constantly put the ball in play, often on well-struck hits. The Panthers also delivered productive outs, scoring three runners with outs.
Josh Salazar, Kolbi Schrag and Cornelius delivered first-inning RBIs that scored Tanner Schrag, Josh Salazar and Kolbi Schrag. Josh Salazar and Kolbi Schrag drove home Tanner Schrag and Kaleb Jackson in the second. Noah Salazar raced home on a Tre Garcia bunt and Tanner Schrag hit a third-inning sacrifice fly for a 7-0 lead.
Garcia drove home Chandler Eaton on a fifth-inning groundout. Kolbi Schrag scored on Cornelius’ RBI single in the sixth inning.
Hoisington 000 000 0 0 — 0 1 1
Nickerson 322 000 x — 9 10 1
Boxberger and Menges. Cornelius, Huggard (7) and Eaton. W—Cornelius, 6-0. L—Boxberger. 2B—N—Kolbi Schrag, Cornelius.
NICKERSON 8, RUSSELL 0 -- No. 1 ranked Nickerson (21-1) captured a 4A-Division 2 state baseball berth. Pitcher Tanner Schrag threw a five-hit shutout with eight strikeouts as the Panthers threw 14 shutout innings.
Josh Salazar drove home four runs with a two-run second-inning single and a two-run fifth-inning single. Tanner Schrag tripled and scored on a first-inning double play. Kaleb Jackson and Carson Cornelius scored on errors. Cornelius added two runs batted in.
Russell’s pitchers contributed eight walks, a hit batter and three errors.Nickerson (21-1) joins Iola (19-1), Pratt (20-2), St. George-Rock Creek (18-2), Wichita Trinity (17-2), KC Ward (11-7) and Garnett-Anderson County (11-11) as 4A state qualifiers.
Russell 000 000 0 – 0 5 3
Nickerson 320 120 x – 8 7 0
Farmer, Decker (5) and Schmidtberger. Tanner Schrag and Eaton. W—T. Schrag 6-1. L—Farmer. 3B—N—T. Schrag.
RUSSELL 13, SMOKY VALLEY 11 — The Broncos survived when right fielder Cooper Windholz threw to catcher Rhett Pospichal who tagged out Tyler Miller, who attempted to score the tying run. Smoky Valley (6-13) scored four runs to cut the Bronco lead to 12-11. Viking Chris Mullin flew out to Windholz and Pospichial surprised Miller with a tag on the shoulder at home plate.
The Broncos scored four runs on two bases-loaded walks, an RBI single and a fielder’s choice for a 4-1 lead. Russell’s Kirk Huser added a two-run single for a 6-3 lead. Koby Decker and Cooper Windholz added RBI singles for a 9-3 lead.
Brandon Malm, who had five RBIs, drilled a three-run homer for a 9-7 score. Russell responded with four runs for a 12-7 on RBI singles by Kyle Farmer and Decker and a bases-loaded walk to Cole Schmidtberger.
Windholz (1-0) pitched five innings. Schmidtberger worked the final two innings. Russell’s Becker finished with five hits in two games with three RBIs. Russelll (11-9) finished second in the North Central Activities Association.
