NEW BLOOMFIELD -- The New Bloomfield Wildcats were coming off a difficult loss to the Lone Jack Mules, and it would have been preferable to have more than a two-hour break before their next baseball game.
Especially when the next opponent is a team as talented as the Class 1 No. 6 St. Elizabeth Hornets.
The Wildcats finished on a high note, earning back four runs in the final two innings, but St. Elizabeth was able to hold on Saturday for an 8-5 victory at Haley Field.
“We came in and competed against them in Game 2 after the way we lost Game 1, that showed a lot about our kids,” New Bloomfield coach Justin Forsythe said.
In Saturday’s opener against Lone Jack, the Mules rallied to score five runs in the top of the seventh inning for a 9-5 victory.
“We just got some unlucky breaks in the seventh,” Forsythe said. “That opened things up and made that game look worse than it actually was.”
The Hornets scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning against the Wildcats. After that, New Bloomfield starting pitcher Michael Saleny settled down and pitched three shutout innings to keep the score at 2-0.
“He came out here today and threw his best ballgame of the spring,” Forsythe said. “He was sharp today and he kept them off track against a really powerful offensive team. He kept them guessing and he made pitches.”
New Bloomfield’s offense got someone into scoring position in each of the first five innings against Caleb Oligschlaeger, St. Elizabeth’s hard-throwing right-hander.
“The way we swung the bat against him, that was good to see,” Forsythe said.
The bad news was Oligschlaeger stranded seven New Bloomfield baserunners in the first four innings, including six in scoring position. The Wildcats left the base loaded in the fourth.
“For the last two-and-a-half weeks, we have not had that big two-out hit with people on base,” Forsythe said. “We’ve had plenty of opportunities to get that, and that has been our key weakness lately.
“Those two-out hits change ballgames.”
Trevor Jordan led off the fifth inning with a single, stole second and third base, then scored on a two-out error to cut St. Elizabeth’s lead to 2-1.
Oligschlaeger reached his pitch-count limit by the end of the fifth inning, so the Wildcats were going to face a new pitcher for the final two innings. But not before the Hornets scored six runs on five hits in the bottom of the fifth, stretching their lead to seven.
“It’s 5-3 ballgame going into the seventh if we catch a pop-up in the fifth inning,” Forsythe said.
New Bloomfield got to within three runs in the sixth, when Michael Leason blasted a wind-aided, two-run home run to left field off St. Elizabeth relief pitcher Nick Heckemeyer.
Leason followed with an RBI single in the seventh, scoring Gavin Thomas to make it an 8-4 game. Leason went 3-for-4 with three RBI to lead the Wildcat offense.
“He put some good swings on it and found his groove there late,” Forsythe said. “He put us in a position to score some more runs.”
The next batter, Matthew Shikles, looped a single into shallow center field to score Braden Jackson, but St. Elizabeth (8-4) threw out Leason attempting to score from second base on the hit to end the game.
“We put some good swings on the ball,” Forsythe said. “We just have to do the little things. The little things are kind of kicking our butt right now.”
Saleny allowed seven runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 4⅔ innings for the Wildcats.
Lone Jack (14-4) led New Bloomfield 4-0 through four innings. The Wildcats had just four baserunners through the first four innings, but the fifth inning would be a different story.
With two outs in the fifth, Brendon Carter and Jordan reached on back-to-back errors, scoring the Wildcats’ first run. Lucas Buscher followed with an RBI double down the left-field line, and after a walk to Ashton Schuster, Thomas hit a two-run single to right field to tie the game.
Saleny walked, Braden Jackson singled and Thomas scored on a fielder’s choice to put New Bloomfield in front 5-4.
“We finally got ourselves in good counts, in counts where we know fastballs are coming,” Forsythe said. “We finally hit some balls hard.
“We got down early and we fought back. We made a game of it.”
The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh, when Lone Jack’s first five batters reached base in the inning. Kaden McCannon capped the Mules’ big inning with a two-run home run to left field -- his second homer of the game -- to make the final score 9-5.
“We did some things defensively in that seventh inning against Lone Jack that helped them build that lead up,” Forsythe said.
Buscher pitched the first 4⅓ innings for the Wildcats, striking out nine while allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits. Jordan relieved him for the final 2⅔ innings, giving up five runs on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
“We’re going to come back at it Monday and we’re going to get better and see what we can do.”
New Bloomfield (7-5) plays Tuesday at Calvary Lutheran. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.