GRANGER — Woodward-Granger held a 9-0 lead over visiting Earlham entering the bottom of the fifth inning Tuesday.
Senior Spencer Hanson must have figured everyone would just as soon get out of the heat and humidity, so he belted a solo home run to end the WCAC contest early and move the hosts to 16-0 overall and 9-0 after the first half of the league schedule.
Ranked 8th in Class 2A, W-G is fourth in runs scored (160) and second in earned runs allowed (17) in 98 innings of play. The team ERA of 1.21 is second-best, while the team batting average of .370 is fourth-highest.
W-G plated four runs in the first frame Tuesday before adding one more in the second and another four in the fourth.
Hanson finished with three RBIs and two runs scored, with Matt Rhodes 3-for-3 with a RBI. Cole Theisen had a single and a double, with courtesy runner Ryan Munoz scoring twice.
Senior Marcus McConahay had a single and a triple, drove in one run, scored three times and stole two bases to help his team to the win.
Theisen yielded five hits in five innings of work, striking out seven in the process. Now 3-0, the left-hander has 26 total strikeouts against two walks in 19-2/3 innings, with the five scoreless frames Tuesday lowering his ERA to 0.71.
W-G will return to action Thursday with a WCAC varsity doubleheader at Panorama. The first game will begin at 5 p.m.
