May 5, 2016
Wolferding's first career start helps Sikeston split Oran, East Prairie doubleheader
The senior combined with Trey Smith, who made his first varsity appearance on the mound, for an 8-0 shutout against visiting East Prairie after losing to Oran 7-2.
By Chris Pobst ~ Standard Democrat
SIKESTON -- Sikeston's everyday catcher was on the giving end of pitches for a change.
Blake Wolferding made his first career start during the backend of a doubleheader on Wednesday and it couldn't have gone much better. The senior combined with Trey Smith, who made his first varsity appearance on the mound, for an 8-0 shutout against visiting East Prairie.
It was a welcoming end to a senior day turned into a chilly senior night that began with a lackluster 7-2 loss to Oran in the first game.
"My first career start came on senior night so I was pretty pumped about it," said Wolferding, who was told he'd get the start on Tuesday. "I had the mentality of just throwing it and letting them hit it. I know I'm not a pitcher and I don't claim to be."
Could've fooled those watching. He flirted with a no-hitter before East Prairie's Dylan Lingle broke up the hitless bid with two outs in the fifth inning.
"Stuff was working," said Wolferding, who along with Trent Sidwell was recognized as part of senior day between games. "I was getting swings and misses and the curveball was sharp. That's all I needed. They weren't barreling it up."
Wolferding gave up two hits and struck out eight in five innings of work while walking four. He got out of his biggest jam of the night in the fourth when he walked the first two batters but struck out the side to end East Prairie's best scoring threat.
"Excellent outing," Sikeston coach Alan Scheeter said. "He's just not used to pitching the amount of innings that he did but that was after catching for seven innings too. He did a great job. Five quality innings from him."
Although Wolferding and Smith aren't considered two of Sikeston's pitchers, they still prepare like it. Playing its fourth game in three days and second doubleheader of the week is the reason why.
Finishing what Wolferding started, Smith's first time on the mound ended with three strikeouts, two walks and no hits in two innings.
"You don't see them in games but they always throw bullpen sets for us and get their work in," Scheeter said. "That's the reason we give them work just in case we play four in three days. When they step out there they're ready to go and they were today."
East Prairie entered Wednesday with a team batting average of .334 but they have fell on hard times of late dropping four of its last five games. The Eagles (9-8) struck out 11 times and their pitchers had issues throwing strikes walking 14 Sikeston batters.
"Coming in as a team we were hitting very well," East Prairie coach Jason Aycock said. "I don't know what it was. I don't have an answer for it. When you have 14 walks and have 11 strikeouts you're not going to win."
East Prairie starter Steven Christian did not get out of the second inning after walking the first five batters of the frame. He was tagged with four earned runs on six walks and one hit through 49 pitches.
Reliever Coby Hubbert, who finished the remaining five innings, allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits and eight walks while striking out six in a game that was originally scheduled for last week but was rained out.
"I wanted to play it and my theory is I want to play the toughest teams I can to prepare our guys for districts," Aycock said. "I don't care what the scoreboard says. We want to keep the big picture in mind and that's districts. Our main job is to improve every single game. I don't know if you can say we improved tonight. I hope not, to be honest with you with how that game went.
"I chalk this up as one of those games you want to erase. It was a bad game and move on to the next one."
That's the same philosophy Sikeston used after dropping a five-run loss to Oran just hours earlier.
Clay Sauceda led the Eagles with two hits and drove in two runs in the first game of the day while Preston Hahn pitched 5 2/3 innings to take the win for Oran (12-8).
Hahn allowed two earned runs on seven hits and had one strikeout and no walks. Layne Johnson got the save allowing no hits and striking out three in the final 1 1/3 innings for the Eagles, who's won eight of their last 10.
Wyatt Pratt sustained the loss on the mound for Sikeston after five innings. He gave up five earned runs on seven hits, recorded four strikeouts and walked five batters.
Monday's SEMO Conference doubleheader, which ended with a semifinal loss to Poplar Bluff, and a looming conference game between rival Notre Dame today was admittedly in Sikeston's head coming into Wednesday's back to back.
"I don't think we came as focused as we needed to," Scheeter said about Sikeston's first game. "We just came out here on kind of a lull after the conference tournament because we were so up and so intense for that tournament that we really wanted to win. Once we realized we didn't we came out here playing two smaller schools and we just didn't come out with the intensity that we needed to to win two ball games.
"We may have been looking forward to playing Notre Dame and this just happened at the right time. You get these two teams between the conference tournament and a big rival, we just had kind of a letdown. I'll take the blame for not getting them as intense as they needed to be."
Sikeston 8, East Prairie 0
East Prairie 000 000 0 -- 0 2 2
Sikeston 051 110 x -- 8 4 0
WP -- Blake Wolferding. LP -- Steven Christian.
Oran 7, Sikeston 2
Oran 210 002 2 -- 7 12 1
Sikeston 000 101 0 -- 2 7 2
WP -- Preston Hahn. LP -- Wyatt Pratt. Multiple hitters: (O) Hahn 3-5, Drew Reischman 2-4, Clay Sauceda 2-3; (S) Sam Cox 2-3. 2B: (O) Tanner McVay; (S) Josh Stinnett.
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