This was more important than baseball. While the Malcolm junior and senior Legion baseball teams swept a pair of June 17 games at Syracuse, out-slugging their opponent meant a lot less than aiding a family in need.
The juniors opened the day with a 13-3 win and the seniors followed suit with an 11-0 shutout. The bigger victory was getting to help a family who has spent most of the past two-and-a-half months in a NICU unit. The Malcolm baseball family joined with the Syracuse community for their “Batting for Vera” event to help a little girl whose life got off to a rough start.
“The parents found out about the event and came together to purchase shirts with proceeds going toward Vera’s hospital bills,” Malcolm coach Tanner Soderberg said. “Being in the NICU for 10 weeks, the costs incurred have to be tremendous.
“We have a group of players and families that understand baseball is a game and getting to play is a privilege. It was a great opportunity for our guys to give back. Winning two games were not the most important thing we did that day.”
Garrett England had a hot bat as the leftie went 2-for-2 with a double and a solo home run to spark Malcolm. Maddox Meyer was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in, while Hayden Frank went 2-for-3 and scored twice.
Carson Frank earned his second win of the season as he fanned three over three innings.
Four Malcolm juniors doubled in a game that was close for six innings before a nine-run top of the seventh blew things open. Owin Little, Eli Kinkaid, Chase Smith and Carson Ramsier each had a two-bagger. Owen Savicky improved his record to 3-0 in a three strikeout performance.
The seniors opened the week with a June 13 road win over a tough Lincoln Lutheran squad. The game was scoreless until Meyer and Mason Wisnieski drove in the game’s only two runs in the top of the sixth.
“Lutheran presents problems in that they can roll out arm after arm,” Soderberg said. “They have five guys who came back after having played a year of college ball. We know our margin for error is small when playing them.”
Wisnieski took care of business on the mound as he scattered five hits over five and two-thirds while fanning eight Lutheran batters. Luke Schmidt got the final four outs, with three being strikeouts.
“Mason was phenomenal,” Soderberg said. “He is such a competitor on the mound. He was a difference maker.
“There’s a competitive streak in Luke has that he is working on bringing out. When he realizes how good he can be, the future isn’t limited. He throws strikes. The moment never seems to be too big.”
The next night—June 14—Malcolm traveled to Valparaiso where it was Cody Sykes who proved to be the difference maker on the mound. After one unearned run in the bottom of the fourth, Sykes threw six innings of shutout ball to earn the win in a 10-5 10-inning thriller.
“Cody was in charge the entire time,” Soderberg said. “I know he’ll throw strikes, field his position, and play with a ‘so what’ mentality. He makes the other team earn it.”
Sykes was helped out by his ‘never-say-die’ teammates who rallied back from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game in the top of the seventh before sealing the win with a five-run top of the 10th.
“I was happy they didn’t press when we were trailing,” Soderberg said. “Once our guys started to relax in the box, they hit pitches that they should hit and let the ones go that were pitcher’s pitches.”
Malcolm welcomed some visitors from the panhandle for a June 15 contest as Alliance came through town on its way to spending a College World Series weekend on the eastern side of the state. Malcolm made quick work of the Spartans with a 9-1 run-rule win in four-and-a-half innings.
Derek Erickson allowed just three hits while fanning five in his five innings of work. Colt Reiling went 3-for-3 at the plate while Meyer hit a three-run home run.
“Our batters had a different mentality a night after the scare at Val,” Soderberg said. “We preached: try less, trust your ability, and trust the coaching. Good things will happen.”
After picking up an 8-3 victory over Lincoln Lutheran on June 13, the Malcolm juniors suffered their first loss of the season the next night in a 11-6 defeat at Valparaiso.
The juniors (11-1) have a lighter week as they host Lincoln Standing Bear for a doubleheader on Thursday, June 22.
The Malcolm seniors (11-3) will make a trip to Wahoo (6-8) on Tuesday before playing in the Silver Creek Tournament this weekend.
“We’ll have Maddox (Meyer) on the mound against Wahoo and they’ll have their guy (Eli Johnston) throwing,” Soderberg said. “I want to see if our approaches get tense in a close game or if we just let it fly.”
