Just a week removed from a spring baseball state championship, the Malcolm baseball team was back at it as the summer American Legion season got underway on May 26.
They picked up right where they left off as the Malcolm Juniors opened with an 18-3 rout of Utica-Beaver Crossing-Friend. The seniors earned a 9-0 run rule victory. Both games were played at Beaver Crossing.
Luke Schmidt took the mound for Malcolm in the seniors game and struck out eight Badgers while allowing just two hits in his four innings of work.
“Luke had command of his pitches,” first year Malcolm coach Tanner Soderberg said. “Of the 16 batters he faced, he threw a first pitch strike 11 times. He was consistently ahead in counts and was the one dictating how at-bats were going.”
Of the 18 batters Malcolm sent to the plate in the five-inning game, Maddox Meyer had the most productive night. After hitting in the second spot of the lineup in the spring season, Meyer moved down to the cleanup spot and went 2-for-2 with a double and four runs batted in.
“I don’t want to change much from a 25-3 state champion team,” Soderberg said. “Mason (Wisnieski) and Maddox are two baseball players who need to have as many guys on base in front of them as possible. So, we’re just trying to maximize their opportunities. They both do similar things at the plate – gap to gap hitters who will drive in runs, and will take a walk if need be. Most importantly, they have high baseball IQ. They hunt their pitches and take team at-bats.”
The Malcolm juniors pounded nine hits against a UBCF team that struggled to throw strikes. Nine Malcolm batters walked while seven were hit by pitches.
Owin Little and Ethan Schultz each doubled for Malcolm while Justin Wisnieski went 2-for-2 and drove in two runs.
Owen Savicky was in command on the mound, facing eight batters in two innings, fanning three while not allowing at hit. Chase Smith allowed one earned run while striking out three in his two innings of work. Cayden Robotham pitched the fifth inning and struck out three of the four batters he faced.
“All three are guys who will keep us in games,” Soderberg said. “It helps the pitchers when the offense is putting up crooked number innings like it did. The offense had 40 plate appearances in a five-inning game.”
Both teams have a busy week ahead as the juniors will play seven games in six days and the seniors will play games on four straight days. After Monday’s visit from UBCF (an 18-0 win for the juniors and an 11-0 win for the seniors), both teams traveled to Lincoln May 30 to face Lincoln Lutheran. The juniors won 13-2 and the seniors lost 9-8 on a walk-off double. Crete came to Malcolm for a junior-senior doubleheader on Wednesday, May 31, (juniors won 4-0 and seniors won 6-4) before the seniors host Ashland on Thursday, June 1.
The juniors will play Minden, Grand Island, Millard North and Hastings in a round robin tournament Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4, in Grand Island.
“We want to continue finding areas to improve,” Soderberg said. “Games help expose those areas that need work. It’s important in the coming week that we recognize every at-bat and every pitch means something. Good teams do the big things right while great teams do the little things right. We want to make sure we are being great at all the little things.”
