Weiser baseball 1-2 in conference play last week

The Weiser baseball team faced three conference teams this past week.
 On Monday they faced Payette, where the Wolverines lost 5-2. Things started out well for the Wolverines with a base hit in the first inning by Kooper von Brethorst, but unfortunately the offense didn’t gain much from that point.
 With Ray Calley on the mound, the defense looked solid in the bottom of the first with three Pirates up and three Pirates down. Weiser then got the chance to hit again. They hit the ball, but right to the Payette fielders. Brett Spencer hit a solid double and Tyler Pope got on base on an error by the first baseman. Weiser would leave both Spencer and Pope on base.
 The bottom of the second was the same for the Pirates with three batters up and three batters down. The third inning was some solid defense by both teams with three up and three down for both teams respectively.
 In the top of the fourth inning, Brody von Brethorst walked to get on and then some fancy bunting and base running got von Brethorst to third. von Brethorst would steal home and then a strikeout ended the scoring for Weiser. The Pirates would get a runner on in the bottom of the fourth inning, due to a Wolverine error.
 The Pirates would then bunt and strikeout, before putting another batter on base by a hit pitch. A hit to center field brought a Pirate runner home; however, the next runner tried to score as well and a nice throw to home ended the inning.
 Weiser’s Jayden Mink would get on base in the top of the fifth inning by an error on a hit to left field, but would be left on after some strike outs. Pirates then got a couple of batters on base due to a base hit and a batter hit by pitch. Ray Calley recorded a strikeout, Brett Spencer had a good play at third to get a batter out, and Brody von Brethorst had a throw down to Kooper von Brethorst at second base who threw the base runner out to Brett Spencer at third.
 In the top of the sixth inning, Kooper von Brethorst walked to get on base. Jayden Mink hit a hard ground ball and reached second on an overthrow by Payette. Some great Wolverine base running scored von Brethorst.
 The half inning would end for Weiser with a strikeout and a pick off at second.
 In the bottom of the sixth inning, Payette would take the lead with three singles to load the bases and then two batters hit by pitches to score two. Weiser changed pitchers in the middle to Jarret Mink, but the damage was done. Mink recorded two strikeouts and a pop up to end the inning, but not before one more would score for Payette on a wild pitch.
 Going into the top of the seventh inning the score was Payette 5-Weiser 2. Weiser would end the game with three up, three down. Weiser scored 2 runs on 2 hits, and 0 RBI’s. Ray Calley pitched 5 innings, striking out 6, while Jarret Mink went 1 inning and struck out 2.
Fruitland vs. Weiser
 Weiser faced Fruitland on Wednesday winning the game 12-8 after letting Fruitland take the lead in the third inning.
 Weiser started out with Willy Shirts on the mound, and Fruitland would get one runner on during the first inning. They would leave that runner stranded after two fly outs and a strikeout by Shirts. Jayden Mink grounded out on a hard hit to third while Kooper von Brethorst had a hard hit to second and reached on an error. Kooper stole second base followed by a pop up by Brett Spencer. Brody von Brethorst would come to the plate and single on a line drive out to center field, scoring his brother, Kooper. Logan Wood ended the inning with a line out to short stop.
 In the second inning, it took some time for the Wolverines to settle in. Shirts recorded three back to back walks, while Fruitland scored on a base hit. A double by Fruitland would score two more, before Weiser recorded their first out of the inning. Weiser would allow one more walk, followed by two strikeouts to end the top of the inning with a score of 5-2, Fruitland in control.
 In the bottom of the second inning, Shirts reached first on a dropped third strike and advanced on an additional error. Nathan McDaniel was out at first on another dropped third strike, which advanced Shirts to third base. Tyler Pope singled to centerfield and scored Shirts. Jayden Mink got on base on a hard hit error to second, but the inning was over with Kooper von Brethorst fly out to third base. Weiser would hold Fruitland during the top of the third inning despite two Wolverine errors and a pitching change to Jayden Mink.
 In the bottom of the third inning, Brett Spencer hit a double and scored on another single by Brody von Brethorst. Von Brethorst was called out stealing second base on a controversial call that was argued. Wolverines would record two additional outs to head into the top of the fourth inning. Mink allowed one single and some solid defense helped him out with two pop ups and a ground out.
 The bottom of four didn’t offer much in terms of offense. Weiser got two runners on due to an error and a walk, but couldn’t score them. The top of the fifth was great defense again by the Wolverines with Mink recording another strikeout and the defense helping with a pop out and a ground out.
 In the bottom of the fifth inning, Weiser got things going again. Brett Spencer hit a hard ground ball recorded as an error at second base. Brody von Brethorst came to the plate and added a double, advancing Brett Spencer to third. Logan Wood had a hit out to centerfield for an out. Brett Spencer scored on a balk by the pitcher, advancing B. von Brethorst to third. Jayden Mink was hit by a pitch to get to first and advanced all the way to third on a bunt by Willy Shirts. The bunt also scored Brody von Brethorst. Nathan McDaniel singled on a bunt to third base scoring Mink, and advancing Shirts to third. Tyler Pope hit a high flying ball in foul territory for the second out and all runners stayed on their respective bases.
 The inning would end on the base paths for Weiser. Weiser had six runs to Fruitland’s five. Fruitland tied the game in the top of the sixth inning with a runner reaching on a dropped third strike, wild pitch. A double by the next batter would score the runner.
 Weiser’s defense would get them out of the inning without any additional runs scored.
 In the bottom of the sixth inning, it was go time for the Wolverines. Jayden Mink doubled on a line drive to left field, Kooper von Brethorst bunted to third base to get on, and Brett Spencer was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brody von Brethorst doubled on a line drive to left field scoring both Mink and K. von Brethorst and advanced Spencer to third. Spencer scored on a wild pitch. Logan Wood got on base with a walk, Jarret Mink singled on a ground ball to center field, scoring B. von Brethorst. Willy Shirts had a pop up for the first out leaving Wood on second and Mink at first. Nathan McDaniel added his own double, scoring both Wood and Mink. Weiser then recorded two more pop ups to end the inning 12-6.

In the top of the seventh, Weiser allowed a single to left field and a home run to over center field. Allowing one more single, the defense went to work. Jarret Mink caught a line drive at second and threw the runner out at first in a double play. Jayden Mink ended the game with a strike out and a final score of 12-8.
 Weiser offense had 12 hits for 12 runs and 10 RBI’s. Both Nathan McDaniel and Brody von Brethorst had multiple hits for the Wolverines with B. von Brethorst going 4 for 4 at the plate and 4 RBI’s.  
 Willy Shirts pitched two and two-thirds innings, allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and struck out 3 Grizzly batters. Jayden Mink pitched four and a third innings, earning the win for the Wolverines, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out three.
Parma vs. Weiser
 To finish the long conference week off, Weiser faced the Parma Panthers Thursday. Weiser took the loss of their senior night 7-6. In the top of the first inning, the Panthers faced Nathan McDaniel on the mound.
 It was three up and three down heading in to the bottom of the first inning.
 Jayden Mink led off with a base hit to left field, followed by a great triple from Kooper von Brethorst to score Mink. Brett Spencer and Brody von Brethorst would both fly out to right field; K. von Brethorst would score on a passed ball, followed by a strike out by Tyler Pope. Nathan McDaniel took a little time settling in hitting two batters, but getting some solid defensive back up to end the half inning without any scoring.  
 In the bottom of the second inning, on a two out rally, Nathan McDaniel sent one flying out of right field for a single homerun.
 Two more Wolverines would make it on base due to errors and a final fielder’s choice to end the inning. Panthers didn’t have much offense during the top of the third, scoring zero.
 In the bottom of the third, Brett Spencer doubled to left field. Brody von Brethorst reached on an error by the center fielder, Tyler Pope added a double, scoring both B. von Brethorst and Spencer.
 Pope advanced to third and was stranded at the end of the inning. Parma recorded a single followed by a home run to get on the board during the top of the fourth inning.
 Parma would single one more time before bunting and grounding out to end the half inning.
 Willy Shirts and Kooper von Brethorst both singled in the bottom of the fourth inning, followed by a double steal. Brett Spencer then grounded out to the short stop, but scored Shirts and advanced K. von Brethorst to third.
 Another ground out ended the Wolverine offense with a score of 6-2. Parma hit into a double play to Kooper von Brethorst and then popped up to Nathan McDaniel in the top of the fifth inning. Tyler Pope would try to keep some offense going for Weiser in the bottom of the fifth inning with a single line drive to right field, but the next three batters would be out.
 In the top of the sixth inning, Weiser struggled to contain Parma allowing them to tie the ball game.  
 Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with Nathan McDaniel pitching. The next single would score one for Parma on a Weiser error, still keeping the bases loaded.
 The next batter would be hit by a pitch, scoring one for Parma and forcing a pitching change to Tyler Pope for Weiser. Pope would record a strike out for the second out. An error on a hard hit to Kooper von Brethorst at short stop would allow two runs to score for Parma.
 Jayden Mink would deliver the final out for the Wolverines, but not before the score was tied at 6-6.
 Weiser couldn’t muster any offense in the bottom of the sixth inning with three up and three down. In the top of the seventh, Weiser would walk one batter to start off the inning, bringing in Brody von Brethorst to pitch. Weiser would add another walk and a hit by pitch to allow Parma to load the bases.
 In a wild moment on the field, Parma sent the third base runner home to steal during a pitch.
 Weiser was unable to defend the steal allowing an additional run to score. Another walk, loaded the bases again for Parma, and then Weiser’s defense took over with some solid defense, a strikeout and a pop out.
 In the bottom of the seventh inning, Brett Spencer singled, but that was all that the Wolverines would add to the offense, losing 7-6 to Parma.
 Nathan McDaniel pitched five and a third innings, allowed 6 runs, on 9 hits, and striking out 2. Tyler Pope pitched two-thirds innings, allowed 1 run on 1 hit, and struck out 1. Brody von Brethorst pitched one inning allowing no runs on 1 hit, and struck out 1.
 Kooper von Brethorst led Weiser in batting, going 3 for 4 at bats. Nathan McDaniel recorded the first homerun for Weiser this year.
 Weiser had 12 hits, scored 6 runs, and recorded 5 RBI’s. Senior night did not go as planned for the three seniors on Weiser’s team.
 Brody von Brethorst, Logan Wood, and Jayden Mink, shared pre-game accolades for their years in the Weiser baseball program. These three young men have played many years together.
 Weiser will play in Fruitland against the Grizzlies this Monday, April 29.
 District begins May 4 with a play-in game and then May 7-9 in Fruitland. At press time, Weiser sits in second place, but with losses to Payette and Parma, and conference games still being played, that could change at any time.
 Come out and support your Weiser baseball team!