After slogging their way to an error-filled win in the first game, the Wayne High baseball team rode a pitching gem by Jacob Kneifl to pick up a pair of wins at Hank Overin Field on Tuesday.
In the first of two rescheduled games, Wayne overcame six errors and managed to come out on top in a marathon 18-14 win over Twin River that took more than 2 1/2 hours to complete and featured a combined 17 errors between the two teams.
Wayne trailed 2-0 in the second before batting around for a nine-run third inning, highlighted by a bases-clearing single from Blake Bartos, who took advantage of two Twin River throwing errors to circle the bases to cap Wayne’s big inning.
Twin River utilized some shaky defense to play themselves back to within three runs at 9-6, but Wayne scored six in the bottom of the fourth, using RBI singles by Bartos and Hagan Miller and two Titan errors that allowed four more runs to score.
Wayne’s defense let Twin River hang around until the end, as the Titans battled back with five runs in the seventh before Drew Buck was finally able to get Wayne out of the inning and post the win.
Bartos had three hits and Miller, Kneifl and Josh Lutt each had two hits to highlight Wayne’s 11-hit effort. Kneifl and Bartos each scored three runs and Kneifl, Miller and Bartos each had three RBI’s.
Tyrus Eischeid pitched four innings to get the win for Wayne in the opener, striking out four and allowing six hits and two earned runs. Buck struck out seven in three innings of relief.
In the second game of the evening, Kneifl carried a perfect game into the seventh inning and had plenty of cushion to work with as Wayne defeated Central City/Fullerton 6-3.
Kneifl helped his cause by walking and scoring on a wild pitch in the first inning to get Wayne on the board. Wayne added two more in the third on RBI groundouts by Miller and Reid Korth, then doubled their advantage in the fifth on an RBI double by Korth and a two-run single by Gunnar Jorgensen.
That was more than enough for Kneifl, who baffled the Kernels through the first six inning and threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 24 batters he faced. He lost the perfect game on the first pitch of the seventh inning on a single by Michael Rutherford, but finished the complete-game three-hitter with six strikeouts and no walks.
Kneifl, Jorgensen, Trevor DeBoer and Brock Hopkins each had two hits to highlight Wayne’s nine-hit attack. Korth and Jorgensen each had two RBI’s.
The wins extended Wayne win streak to five. The 7-3 Blue Devils play host to Omaha South on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Hank Overin Field.
