Wolves adapt and overcome

LINCOLN — Lincoln borrowed from the Marine Corps philosophy by adapting and overcoming in one of the strangest baseball games in school history, emerging with an 18-1 win over Bergman Thursday.

According to marine.com, “Marines are trained to improvise, adapt and overcome all obstacles in all situations,” functioning with both a willingness and the determination to fight and to keep fighting until victory is assured.

Put in a situation where making critical decisions at a moment’s notice, Lincoln junior Drew Moore earned the win by locating well and throwing strikes in the shortest outing of his baseball career.

Moore started on the mound for the Wolves and threw 20 pitches in one inning in which he recorded four strikeouts, a baseball rarity made possible by a dropped strike three and a batter beating a throw to first to get on base, and he did so in the midst of weather conditions that Bergman found out made throwing strikes difficult.

“It was raining hard the whole game. My cleats were getting all muddy. I couldn’t even lift my foot up at one point,” Moore said.

He felt like his cleats weighed as much as 25 pounds but he got the Wolves through the top of the first inning by dominating the Panthers.

“The first time they did hit, it was four up, three down, so it was quick,” said teammate Kellar Price.

When the Wolves came up to bat, Bergman struggled mightily on the mound, issuing multiple walks, compounded by wild pitches. Bergman exhausted its pitching earlier in the day against Green Forest and in one inning against the Wolves Moore said they threw 120 pitches between two pitchers.

“They threw everywhere but the strike zone,” Kellar Price said.

Lincoln strung together eight hits, mixed in with walks, wild pitches and passed balls. Several Wolves including Kellar Price, Paxton Price, Moore, Jace Birkes and catcher Traegan Pathkiller, each saw three at-bats in the first inning.

“We did a really good job of hitting the ball on the back side,” Kellar Price said.

Both Kellar Price and Moore walked twice on four straight pitches. Kellar Price came up a third time and struck out. His three at-bats in one inning stands out in his mind.

“Going through the lineup twice in one inning was the most memorable thing for me. That and the way I looked striking out. I might as well have dug myself a hole and buried myself in it,” Kellar Price said, recalling a dose of humility blended in with the extra long at-bat for the Wolves.

Birkes walked once and had an RBI single with the bases loaded. Getting a trio of opportunities to hit in one inning was an unprecedented accomplishment for him, too.

Moore’s two-run double into center field capped Lincoln’s 18-run barrage in the first inning. The Wolves left one runner on base.

For Moore, the most memorable part of the game was getting relieved with a huge lead early into the contest.

“Just pitching one inning and then getting pulled out after [we scored] 18 runs. I don’t think I’ve ever just pitched one inning. It was very unusual,” Moore said.

Bergman batted in the top of the second but could only produce one run and elected to forfeit by run-rule, allowing Lincoln to punch its ticket to regionals. The Wolves dropped Friday’s semifinal, 13-3, to West Fork at the District 3A-1 baseball tournament Friday, and will take a No. 3 seed into the 3A Regional 1 Tournament on Thursday at 12:20 p.m. at the Harrison Parks & Recreation Complex against 3A-4 No. 2 seed, Danville, a team with one of the most unusual nicknames in sports — the Little Johns.