MANKATO — Junior left-hander Keaton Wojcik struck out 10 while giving up one run on three hits Tuesday night as a quick-starting Mankato East baseball team downed Mankato West 6-2 in a Big Nine Conference clash at ISG Field.
East (4-2 both overall and in the Big Nine) scored a pair of runs in each of the first two innings to stake the talented Wojcik to a 4-0 lead. After Wojcik completed his 89-pitch stint with a 4-1 advantage, senior right-hander Avery Stubbs closed things out by striking out five over the final two frames without giving up a hit.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of work the past few days,” Wojcik said. “I wasn’t quite right at the beginning of the season and was a little wild. I feel that I am hitting my stride right now and this was a good game to give me my confidence back for the rest of the season.
“I was working on my finish after I threw the ball so that was my main focus. Things just weren’t feeling right after I threw the ball. I felt good in the bullpen before the game so I knew I’d be ripping it during the game. We got off to a good start and then went a little dead in the middle innings before finding it again at the end. I felt my pitch count was average through five innings. I have a lot of faith in Avery when he comes in.”
West (4-1, 4-1) received a second-inning infield single from losing pitcher Mason Schreiber before sophomore catcher Emmitt Rentas belted a double into the left-center field gap and scored on Schreiber’s opposite field single in the fourth. Schreiber collected two hits for the fifth-ranked Scalets but allowed four earned runs on six hits while striking out three and walking nine.
The No. 3-ranked Cougars struck in the top of the first when senior center fielder Carson Hart walked ahead of junior left fielder Owen Stencel’s single. After senior shortstop Mason Diede drew his first of four base on balls, senior catcher Koltin Kolbinger drove in a run with an infield out and junior first baseman Gavin Herring followed with a run-scoring single.
“It was a good game for us in getting those early runs, now we have to work on those middle innings,” Stencel, who along with senior right fielder Alex Fast ripped two hits apiece, said. “This isn’t a me game, it’s a team game so I am just looking to help out the squad. The more comfort you give your pitcher the better the game is going to go. It’s nice to see hits coming from all around and stringing them together.”
Fast smacked a double to deep left-center field to lead-off the second and scored on an error. Hart then grounded an RBI single through the hold to expand the margin to 4-0. East ended up stranding 12 runners in the contest compared to the Scarlets’ four.
“Keaton wasn’t locked in like he is capable of in his first couple of starts but he came out today and looked great,” East coach Travis Miller said. “I think he gets a little more boiled up for these East-West games too because he’s grown up playing with a lot of these guys. These guys have played together their whole lives so there’s a lot of smiling going on out there. We don’t know who is going to step up and contribute from our juniors so we’re finding out who fits.”
After West trimmed the deficit to 4-2, the Cougars generated two runs without a hit in their final at bat.
“It just took us too long to get going,” West coach Marshall Miller said.”I felt were nervous at the start but then we started to get in our groove and pick it up a little bit. But it’s tough when you’re facing Keaton Wojcik. He’ got plenty of pitches he can command and he kept us off balance all night”
East plays Wednesday at Northfield while West travels to Albert Lea Thursday.