The West Liberty High School Boys Baseball team of coach Troy Wulf added three wins this week, including a sweep over neighboring West Branch and a mercy rule victory over North Cedar, before falling in a two-game series to Marion over the weekend.
In the first game of their double-header on Tuesday, neither team would find much offense in the first two innings, going scoreless. The Bears bucked the trend in the top of the third, scoring a lone run before the Comets responded with one of their own in the bottom half of the third.
The Comets scored again in the fourth and the Bears tied it back up at 2-2 in the fifth. From there, the game proceeded into extra innings. The Bears pushed a run across in the top of the eighth, putting the pressure on the hosts
The Comets found a base runner in the form of Colin Cassady in the bottom of the inning, scoring for the Comets to tie the game. Drake Collins singled to represent the winning run for the Comets, then stole second, and advanced to third on a Tyler Jones single to put the winning run 90 feet away.
A wild pitch from the West Branch hurler brought Collins across the plate to capture the game one victory.
Ty Jones and Caleb Wulf both recorded RBI’s for the Comets. Wulf took to the mound to get the start for the Comets, pitching seven innings as the Comet junior recorded 11 strikeouts on one hit and no earned runs, resulting in no decision. Collins recorded the win for the Comets after his inning of work in the eighth, striking out one while giving up two hits.
The nightcap started differently for both sides,as the Bears jumped out to a 10-0 lead through five innings while the Comets were unable to find any offense.
However, the Comets would not go quietly, as the Comets rallied, started by Chance Thrasher getting hit by a pitch, resulting in the Comets batting through the order and recording a five-run fifth to stave off a mercy rule loss.
An eight run sixth inning gave the Comets an unlikely 13-10 lead headed into the seventh. The Comets held off the Bears to capture the 13-10 come-from-behind victory, by far the best one of the year for West Liberty.
Caleb Wulf led the Comet bats, going 2-3 with three RBI in the victory while the Comet pitching corps combined for eight strikeouts owhile giving up seven hits.
On Thursday, the Comets hosted North Cedar for a River Valley South Conference matchup.
The Comets grabbed three run in the opening inning. The Knights responded their first run in the third before the Comets added two more of their own. A six-run fourth for the Comets gave the hosts an 11-1 advantage.
The Knights scored one in the fifth in an effort to stave off the mercy rule, to no avail as the Comets pushed across the final run in the bottom of the fifth to take the easy win.
Tyler Jones and Chance Thrasher both pushed across two RBIs in the game hile Thrasher also got the win from the mound, recording nine strikeouts while giving up five hits.
On Saturday, the Comets fell to Marion in a two-game out of conference series, 13-4 and 19-9. No deails on the game were available.
AfterAfter hosting Tipton in a double-header on Monday and Anamosa on Tuesday, the Comets return to action Thursday against hosting Northeast in Goose Lake before going to Iowa City for a 5 p.m. start of a double-header against neighboring rival Regina.
Monticello hosts the Comets on Thursday, June 17 in a 7 p.m. start.