The Cardinals ran wild over Fort Osage, 9-4, finishing with 11 stolen bases, in the opener and then held on for a 5-4 victory over Smith Cotton to claim two wins on Saturday at home.
Fort Osage
Spotting the Indians two runs in the top of the first, the Cardinals wasted little time in striking back. Karsen Myers led off with a single, stole second and then trotted home when Mason Williams blasted a home run to left to tie the game. One out later, Trevor Lofland walked and stole second, moving to third on a wild pitch. Braden Strickland drew a two out walk and purposely got caught as he made a break for second, allowing Lofland to steal home as he continued on to second to complete the double steal, the fourth stolen base of the inning.
With two outs in the second, Karsen Myers walked and promptly stole second. Mason Williams drilled a double to left center to score Myers. Bryson Bard, now running for Williams, scored on an infield single by Lake Johnson making the score 5-2 after the second inning.
Allowing the Indians to score single runs in the third and fifth closed the score to 5-4. The defense put an end to the Indian sixth with an unconventional double play. With a runner on first and one out, Mason Young fielded a grounder and tossed to Konnor Hood for the second out. The baserunner, continuing past second and heading for third, was gunned down when Hood fired across the diamond to Braden Strickland covering the third base bag.
Dawson McMullen and Karsen Myers both walked in the home sixth and stole a base. Mason Williams drove both of them in with a base hit. After stealing second and third, courtesy runner Carter Lee then scored on a ground ball from Trevor Lofland. Mason Young finished the scoring when be launched his fifth home run of the year.
Mason Williams finished the game 4-4, driving in five. As a team, the Cardinals stole 11 bases in the game with Karsen Myers, Williams and Trevor Lofland each swiping three.
Colton Rickman worked his way through 4.2 innings to earn the win, surrendering four runs on four hits. He struck out five. Bryson Bard earned the save tossing the final 2.1, striking out two.
Smith Cotton
In game two, the Cardinals scored five times in the first and then held on for the 5-4 win.
Karsen Myers singled to start the bottom of the first, followed by Mason Williams getting hit by a pitch and Lake Johnson drawing a walk to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Myers to score. Trevor Lofland then drove in the other two with a single down the right field line. Mason Young became the fifth consecutive batter to reach as he doubled to score Lofland with the fourth run. Young moved up to the third on a ground ball out from Braden Stickland and scored on another grounder from Konnor Hood.
The Tigers, scoring one in the first, got to within a single run with a three run fourth. With two outs and runner on second, three consecutive hits plated the three runs and Rylan Bell left the game still responsible for the runner at first. Brock Hulstine secured the final out of the fourth and worked the final three innings to earn the save.
The Cardinals won the game on only three hits, one each from Myers, Lofland and Young.
Rylan Bell struck out three in his 3.2 innings, only walking one. Brock Hulstine scattered three hits over the remaining 3.1, striking out four without issuing a walk.
The Cardinals will be back at home on Tuesday with a visit from Willard.