Senior night slugfest

AFTON — East Union (4-8, 1-8 Pride of Iowa) scored 16 runs in a baseball game for the first time since July 2020 with their 16-15 win over Melcher-Dallas (7-10, 4-7 Bluegrass) Monday night.

According to Bound, the Eagles’ 16 runs were one of 11 games statewide have 16 runs tallied for the victor Monday.

The 31 combined runs were tied for first in the state, as Sidney defeated Essex 31-0 in the second game of their doubleheader.

“Tonight was crazy,” coach Nate McCollough said. “Back and forth, both teams hit the ball well. Base running was huge and both teams walked a lot of guys and gave some free bases.”

The Eagles walked 13 and the Saints walked nine.

After the first inning, both teams were knotted at one.

Neither team scored in the second inning.

East Union had a fielding percentage of .964, with 23 put outs and four assists. The Eagles allowed just two stolen bases.

“I think it came down to we made more plays defensively,” McCollough said. “We had only one error (the Saints had five).”

Josh Lopez started on the bump and threw 86 pitches in four innings of service. Lopez struck out three, walked six, allowed six hits and gave up 10 runs.

In the third inning, the Eagles scored 6 runs to the Saints 3. In the fourth, the Saints scored 6 runs and the Eagles had 3.

The wind was almost consistently blowing from the south at 20 mph. Melcher-Dallas’ Cole Metz hit an early game home run and Eagle Kameron Wethington tied it at 10 heading into the fifth inning.

“I think both homers, they’re gone anyway,” McCollough said. “The wind might have pushed them a little bit. They both landed 20, 30, feet over the fence. They were no doubters. I don’t think the wind played any factor in those balls, maybe in a couple that stayed up a little longer that got caught but overall I think it was pretty even.”

Wyatt Mairet came in to relieve Lopez and struck out seven in 14 opponent at bats. Mairet, in his 67 pitches thrown, also allowed four hits, walked three and allowed five runs.

“He closed the door on them,” McCollough said. “That’s the hardest I’ve seen him throw in a long time. Normally he’s kind of conservative, hits his spots and methodically goes after it. Today, he was a man on a mission. He was rocking fire and shut them down.”

The Saints had a 14-10 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth, but the Eagles had their second six run inning of the game and led 16-14 heading into the sixth.

Neither team scored in the sixth.

In top of the seventh, Saint Logan Godfrey struck out, Cole Metz tripled and scored after Owen Suntken drove him home. Trevor Raab grounded out to first base and his teammate Max Enfield struck out swinging.

With the win, the Eagles are 2-3 since 2018 against Melcher-Dallas. East Union last won 5-4 against the Saints on June 22, 2020.

Team Stats

Pitching

W: Wyatt Mairet, L: Johnny Milburn.

East Union

Batting

2B: Seth Hudson, 1. HR: Kameron Wethington, 1. RBI: Kameron Wethington, 4; Jake Akers, 2; Terrian Islas, 2; Trevor Fry, 1; Josh Lopez, 1; Seth Hudson 1; Wyatt Mairet 1.

Runs

Wyatt Mairet, 3; Austin Lack, 3; Seth Hudson, 2; Josh Lopez, 2; Terrian Islas, 2; Kameron Wethington, 2; Fischer Buffington, 1; Trevor Fry, 1.

HBP

Austin Lack, 2; Wyatt Mairet, 1.

Melcher-Dallas

Batting

2B: Logan Godfrey, 1; Cole Metz, 1; Owen Suntken, 1. 3B: Cole Metz, 1; Owen Suntken, 1. HR: Cole Metz, 1. RBI: Owen Suntken, 4; Cole Metz, 4; Logan Godfrey, 2; Mason Dejong, 1.

Runs

Cole Metz, 5; Mason Dejong, 3; Logan Godfrey, 2; Cayden Butrum, 2; Owen Suntken, 1; Anthony Schneider, 1; Johnny Milburn, 1.

HBP

Cayden Butrum, 1.

Next up

The Eagles host the Southwest Valley Timberwolves (2-10, 1-9 Pride of Iowa) tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The Timberwolves are 11-3 in the series since 2014. East Union’s trio of victories were 2-1 on June 12, 2014; 6-3 on June 8, 2017 and 16-9 on July 3, 2020, which is the last time the Eagles scored 16 runs in a game.

Senior send off

Wyatt Mairet and Jake Akers were honored with their numbers spray painted in front of the dugout for senior night festivities.