Marion Baseball

Cougars, J-Hawks lead Metro baseball

This is not shaping up as a particularly good year for high school baseball in the Metro area.

Only Kennedy and Jefferson have winning records in conference games. And only Kennedy, Jefferson and Xavier have winning records overall.

The Xavier Saints suffered a big loss this month when Mitch Keller accepted a $1 million signing bonus from Pittsburgh and left to begin his pro career.

The Linn-Mar Lions also have suffered a big loss with all-state catcher Brandt Ollinger playing travel ball this summer with an all-star team. Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner said Ollinger will be gone for an extended period of time.

Kennedy is ranked No. 2 in Class 4A and Jefferson defeated No. 1 Hempstead in the second game of a doubleheader Friday.

Here are the Metro records through June 22:

Kennedy         14-2 overall   10-2 MVC
Jefferson       13-6 overall   8-4 MVC
Xavier          12-8 overall   6-6 MVC
Marion          8-8 overall    6-6 Wamac
Linn-Mar        9-14 overall   4-8 MVC
Prairie         4-12 overall   3-7 MVC
Washington      3-12 overall   3-9 MVC
Cedar Valley    0-14 overall

Indians trimmed twice by Mustangs

The Mount Vernon Mustangs swept a Wamac Conference doubleheader from the Marion Indians Friday night at Marion, 5-4 and 5-3.

Luke Eldred pitched a complete game for Mount Vernon in the opener and the Mustangs took advantage of five Marion errors. Eldred had three hits. Trey Ryan had two hits and two RBIs for the winners.

Trevor Hardman collected a triple and two RBIs for Marion in the first game.

Mount Vernon scored four runs in the top of the seventh to snap a 1-1 tie and take a 5-1 lead in the nightcap. Marquis Dew had a two-run double in the inning for the Mustangs. Marion responded with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the rally fell short.

Freshman Brady Donohue pitched six strong innings for Marion in the nightcap, striking out seven batters and allowing only five hits. Gage Kray had a double and triple for the Indians. Quinn Cannoy also had two hits.

Marion committed six errors in the nightcap for a total of 11 errors in the twinbill.

Game 1

Mount Vernon  122 000 0 - 5 9 1
Marion             110 020 0 - 4 6 5

W - Eldred. L - Kray.

Game 2

Mount Vernon  001 000 4 - 5 8 1
Marion             000 100 2 - 3 7 6

W - Dew. L - Donohue.

Kuhn pitches 1-hitter for Indians

David Kuhn tossed a one-hitter with eight strikeouts Tuesday night as the Marion Indians blanked West Liberty, 6-0, in the first game of a doubleheader at Marion.

The Indians won the second game, 11-1, in five innings.

Christian Stekl drove in three runs for Marion in the opener. Trevor Hardman had two hits and Baylor Fish scored two runs.

Mitch Wiese and Owen Carstensen combined on a four-hitter in the nightcap for the Indians. Maverick Miller had three hits. Christian Stekl, Kuhn, Gge Kray and Bobby Vanderlind had two hits. Stekl scored three runs. Logan Fuller, Fish and Carstensen scored twice.

Game 1

West Liberty  000 000 0 - 0 1 3

Marion        003 201 x - 6 6 0

W - Kuhn. L - Zamora.

Game 2

West Liberty  000 10 - 1 4 1

Marion        613 01 - 11 13 1

W - Weise. L - Becker.

Marion drops Wamac twinbill to DeWitt

The Marion Indians scored only one run all night Friday and lost a Wamac Conference baseball doubleheader to DeWitt Central, 3-0 and 2-1, at Marion.

DeWitt Central took advantage of five walks and an error to score all three of its runs in the second inning of the opener. TJ Sikkemma tossed a five-hit shutout for DeWitt.

Freshman Brady Donohue pitched well for Marion in his first appearance for the varsity in the nightcap, but took the loss in the 2-1 setback. He struck out seven batters and walked only one.

The Indians tied the nightcap, 1-1, in the fifth inning when Bobby Vanderlind hit a triple and scored on a wild pitch. Vanderlind led Marion with two hits.

DeWitt Central scored the winning run in the second game on a balk with two outs in the top of the sixth inning.