Weiser ends regular season with 13-4 loss to Fruitland

Weiser High School baseball finished up conference play with a loss to the Fruitland Grizzlies 13-4 – a score that didn’t necessarily reflect the stats since Weiser out hit the Grizzlies 12-9.
 The major difference came in the RBIs. Weiser had two to Fruitland’s nine.
 Starting off the first inning, Weiser batters collected two outs quickly and brought Brett Spencer to bat. Spencer doubled followed by an additional double by Brody von Brethorst to score Spencer.     
 Nathan McDaniel was hit by a pitch to get on base, but a ground out ended the top of the first.
 In the bottom of the inning, Jarret Mink took the mound for the Wolverines and didn’t ever settle in to his normal pitching capacity. During the inning, there was a walked batter, followed by a single to advance that batter to third base.
 A deep fly ball to left field scored two runs for Fruitland. Weiser would finally record an out when Fruitland grounded out to shortstop, Kooper von Brethorst. Weiser couldn’t settle in defensively either, allowing another run to score and ending the first inning with a score of 3-1 in Fruitland’s favor.
 In the top of the second, Jarret Mink got on with a walk, followed by a single from Logan Wood. Willy Shirts popped out for the Wolverines, but pinch runner Tyrel Barnett reached third in place of pitcher Jarret Mink.
 Speedster Wood stole second and Barnett scored on the shortstop error during the steal. Jayden Mink was hit by a pitch, followed by a nice bunt by Kooper von Brethorst, scoring Logan Wood to tie the game. Brett Spencer walked to load the bases, but the inning ended with runners being thrown out after a fly ball to centerfield, but not before scoring Jayden Mink for the go-ahead run.
 In the bottom of the second, Weiser changed pitchers to Willy Shirts. Weiser collected two errors and allowed Fruitland to advance the score in their favor 5-4. In the top of the third, Weiser had two singles by Logan Wood and Tyler Pope. Nathan McDaniel reached first on a hard hit ball recorded as an error resulting in no added score to Weiser’s totals.
 The bottom of the third looked hopeful for the Wolverine defense, who recorded three outs on three batters, but the top of the fourth was close to the same with three outs and only one single by Brody von Brethorst. Some hard hitting, combined with some errors in the bottom of the fourth, brought the score to a Fruitland lead 8-4.
 Weiser couldn’t get the offense working in the top of the fifth with the exception of Logan Wood, Willy Shirts, and Jayden Mink who each had a single. Luckily, Fruitland didn’t have much luck in the bottom of the fifth inning either.
 Weiser changed pitchers bringing in Kooper von Brethorst. A quick two outs were earned by Weiser in the top of the sixth inning, followed by a walk by Brody von Brethorst, a single by Nathan McDaniel, and a hard hit recorded as an error by Tyler Pope. The half inning would end on a pop up third out.
 In the bottom of the sixth inning a couple of walks forced another pitching change for the Wolverines to Jayden Mink. The change simply wasn’t enough for the Wolverines as Fruitland capitalized on hard hitting and errors, bringing the score to 13-4.
 With one last chance in the top of the seventh inning, Logan Wood started off with a hard hit single to right field. The next three Wolverine batters would record outs, ending the game.
 “In games like these it is nice to see a bright spot and that was with the offense of Logan Wood. Logan was 4 for 4 at the plate and did his job to get on base. Brody was close behind going 2 for 3 at the plate and adding an RBI for the team,” Coach Bowe von Brethorst said.
 Weiser heads into District play on Tuesday, May 7, at 4 p.m. in Fruitland against the Grizzlies again. Weiser is seeded in third place behind Homedale and Fruitland, respectively. Good luck Wolverines.