Walleye off to a fast start in Legion baseball action
By Zach Stenberg
Farmer Intern
Watford City’s team began its season last Tuesday against Stanley in a double-header. And after a week of play, the Walleye sport a record of 5-1.
“We will have to keep it up this week because we play on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday,” states Pat Spacher, Walleye head coach. “Seven of these 10 games are league counters. We will know a lot more about ourselves after this week.”
Watford City 14, Stanley 0
Watford City got their bats going and Dakota Neether shut out Stanley while picking up the win.
“We did a very good job of swinging the bat and everyone contributed in some way,” stated Patrick Spacher, head coach. “For the most part, we pitched and played defense pretty well.”
Nate Egeberg led Watford City with four runs batted in.
Watford City 14, Stanley 13
The second game of the double-header was a non-counter. The Walleye came back in the bottom of the fifth to score six runs and take the win.
“We had a terrible defensive inning,” stated Spacher. “It doesn’t matter who you play, coming back from five runs down in the last inning is huge for our club. Going forward, we must continue to improve if we want to win our section. We will continue to focus on doing the little things right.”
Keegan Thomspon picked up the win and Andrew Sampsel led the Walleye with three hits and four runs batted in.
Game 1 R H E
Stanley 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Watford City 2 5 2 5 x 14 11 0
Game 2 R H E
Stanley 1 0 0 0 0 12 13 8 2
Watford City 5 1 0 2 6 x 14 14 4
Watford City 6, Makoti 0
The Watford City Walleye continued their hot streak of swinging their bats well against Makoti. Andrew Sampsel pitched a shutout and picked up the win. Sampsel fanned 11 of Makoti’s batters and gave up only three hits.
“Andrew pounded the strike zone and we played outstandingly behind him,” stated Spacher. “Brandon Taylor had a clutch base hit that drove in two runs with two outs that gave us some breathing room.”
With the first week of the Legion season under the Walleye’s belt, Spacher is happy with what he’s seen so far.
“We are pleased to be 3-1 overall and 2-0 in league play,” stated Spacher.
Watford City 1, Makoti 8
In this non-counter game, the bats went cold for the Walleye as Watford fell to Makoti 8-1. Makoti struck first while scoring four runs in the first inning, and then adding two more runs in the second and third innings. Watford City scored one run in the fourth, but could not mount a comeback as they had done previously against Stanley.
Game 1 R H E
Makoti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Watford City 1 0 0 3 2 0 x 6 10 0
Game 2 R H E
Makoti 4 2 2 0 0 0 8 6 1
Watford City 0 0 0 1 0 x 1 5 2
Watford City 10, Surrey 0
Watford City took an early lead on Surrey, scoring five runs in the first inning, and never looked back. Keegan Thompson hit a solo home run and Dakota Neether picked up another win on the mound for Watford City.
“We played our most complete double-header of the year,” stated Spacher. “We put many good at-bats together and played good defense with great defense in the outfield. And our pitchers did a great job only allowing three hits in the double-header.”
The Walleye continued with their red hot bats and hitting with runners in scoring position.
“We continued to do a good job of moving runners over and getting them in to score runs,” stated Spacher.
Watford City 9, Surrey 1
In this second game of the double-header, Watford City continued with their hot bats and great pitching.
The Walleye jumped out with three runs in the first inning and continued adding to their lead in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Nate Egeberg hit a solo home run and Dustin Kleppen knocked in three runs on a hit and a sacrifice.
Brandon Allex picked up the win on the mound for the Walleye, while recording six strikeouts and only giving up one hit.
Game 1 R H E
Watford City 5 1 5 0 10 10 0
Surrey 0 0 0 - 0 2 0
Game 2 R H E
Watford City 3 0 1 3 2 0 9 13 1
Surrey 1 0 0 0 0 x 1 1 0