Wolves Avoid Shutout, Walks Factor In 11-1 Loss To Gentry

LINCOLN — Gentry’s best offense came from patient at- bats, yet Pioneer baseball coach Justin Ledbetter thought they almost got too relaxed in the batter’s box during a season-opening 11-1 win.

Lincoln played just enough defense in the season-opener on Monday, March 1 to hang around for five innings in a one- sided contest that Gentry could have potentially ended earlier. Baseball games can end in three innings if one team has 15-run advantage.

“I was glad that we were patient at the plate, but at the same time I don’t feel like we were aggressive,” Ledbetter said. “I felt like we went up there looking for a walk based off what was going on and we can’t play that way. We’ve got to be able to get up there and when we take advantage of strikes, we need to be able to put the ball in play and move around.”

Lincoln compounded its woes by walking in a bunch of runs. Gentry’s first run came on a wild pitch that hit a batter with the bases loaded on walks. The next two Gentry batters walked and Cody Tucker got ahead 2- 0 in the count before Lincoln coach J. Keith pulled starter Cody Webb, who took the loss.

“We just got to get those seniors dialed in, and getting them believing in themselves and throwing strikes,” Keith said.

Freshman Kase Ingram came on and threw consecutive called-strikes before walking Tucker scoring another run.

Ingram came back inducing Brayden Feathers to line out to second for the second out — posturing the Wolves to minimize the damage, but Gentry’s Dawson Wright reached on an error that cost Lincoln two more runs. Facing a 6-0 deficit, Ingram struck out Crafton Beeler leaving three Pioneers stranded.

Gentry starter Issak Crittenden picked up the win. He retired the Wolves in order for the first nine batters he faced. He had a perfect game going until the bottom of the fourth when a well-located 3-2 pitch to Lincoln senior Levi Wright was called ball-four putting the lead-off hitter on. Levi Wright raced to third on a Gentry throwing error and scored Lincoln’s solitary run when Ingram laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt even when he wasn’t supposed to.

The mistake wound up scoring a run, allowing Lincoln to avoid a shutout and bringing a grin to Keith.

“We missed a little bit of a sign right there and bunted first and third, not what you really want to do down 10, but hey it happens sometimes,” Keith said.

Crittenden struck out Drew Moore to end the inning and fanned all three batters he faced in the fifth, drawing praise from both coaches.

“He made us struggle with his off-speed. Our guys really just couldn’t catch up on that fast-ball. He sort of shoved it right down the middle and made us like it a little bit,” Keith said.

According to Ledbetter, Crittenden is smart and has got a really, good baseball IQ. Even without the benefit of a 2020 high school baseball season, the sophomore knows what he’s doing.

“Last season he got short a little bit. That really hurt us, but he plays travel ball in the summers, plays with some really, good talent,” Ledbetter said.

“One of the biggest things was he was able to come out tonight, locate, throw some strikes and get ahead of hitters, didn’t really have to throw a lot of off-speed stuff until late in the game when we wanted to work a little bit more stuff bullpen-wise and try to get us ready for later this week. Great kid, works hard, and it showed tonight.”

Levi Wright took the mound for the Wolves in the top of the fifth, recording a strikeout and a ground ball to shortstop before issuing a walk to Gary Cox. With the base-runner aboard, Gentry capitalized upon an opportunity to end the game in five innings via a mercy-rule. A pick-off attempt went past first and Cox was off to the races, not stopping until he reached third.

He scored on a strike that ricocheted off the Lincoln catcher’s knee guard and rolled toward Gentry’s dugout.

“We were able to base-run a little bit and do some good things, but overall I’m happy with how we played. We’re happy with the outcome, but we’ve got to get better at the plate if we want to compete in our conference,” Ledbetter said. “We got fortunate tonight, they kicked the ball around.”

MARCH 1 AT LINCOLN GENTRY 11, LINCOLN 1

Gentry (1-0) …..640 .. 01x x — 11 x x Lincoln (0-1) ……000 10x x — 1 x x W— Crittenden (1-0), L — Webb (0-1).