New Bloomfield's bats bashed opposing pitching Friday on day one of the Eugene Baseball Bash before the Wildcats lost 9-1 on Saturday in the championship game to St. Elizabeth.
The Wildcats outscored their two Day 1 opponents 32-3, defeating Pilot Grove 15-1 and Higbee 17-2.
In their second game this year against Pilot Grove, after losing the first meeting 3-2 on Sept. 10, the Wildcats equaled the run output of that game in the first inning with four of the first six batters hitting their way on and seniors Trevor Jordan and Matthew Shikles each having a run-scoring extra base hit.
New Bloomfield would score in every inning of the five that were played and would amass 15 hits. Junior Brendon Carter went 2-for-2 with two RBI, and Jordan went 2-for-5 with three RBI, a triple and a home run. Senior Ashton Schuster pitched five shutout innings, allowing four hits and an unearned run while striking out six.
The Wildcats won in four innings against Higbee, scoring 17 runs on nine hits. Jordan had another big offensive game, going 2-for-2 with three RBI and an inside-the-park home run in the second that scored two of the 11 New Bloomfield runs in the inning.
New Bloomfield would score in every inning once again while limiting Higbee to one hit. One of those runs scored on three passed balls with senior Lucas Buscher on the mound. He would finish with four innings of two-run ball and six strikeouts.
Senior Michael Saleny would finish with four RBI despite going 1-for-4. Three would score on a double in the big second inning.
The Wildcats would play Saturday in the championship game against St. Elizabeth, who they'll also play at 5 p.m. Tuesday at home. Saleny would start and allow four early runs to the Hornets, leading the Wildcats to be down by multiple runs for the first time of the weekend.
Buscher would have the only New Bloomfield RBI, and Jordan would add two more hits to his weekend total.