Winterset smacked four doubles and Perry committed five errors, a combination that helped create a 9-2 win for the visiting Huskies in Raccoon River Conference play at Progressive Field Monday.
Austin Sellers did the most damage for the Huskies at the plate. Batting ninth, he finished 4-for-4 with five RBIs and two runs scored. His bat, and the three-hit, six-strikeout effort of pitcher Cullin Donohoe, was more than enough to lift Winterset to 10-5 overall and 5-3 in RRC play.
Perry (12-8, 4-3) received a solid outing from Will Whiton on the mound could not come up any sustained offense and hurt themselves defensively with five miscues, raising to 17 the number of errors the Bluejays have committed in their last three games — all at Progressive Field,
The Jays wasted an opportunity to score first when Whiton singled and stole second to lead off the first. Zach Roberts followed with a walk, with a Nic Wilhelmi sacrifice putting runners on second and third.
However, Donohoe was having none of that, and bore down to record consecutive strikeouts to end the threat.
Sellers singled with one down in the third inning and ended up on third base with a two-base outfield error tacked onto the play. He scored with two outs on the second Perry error of the frame. A third error put two Huskies aboard, but Whiton recorded his third strikeout of the stanza to limit the damage.
Whiton walked and stoke second to begin Perry’s half of the third. A sac bunt from Roberts moved him to third, from where he scored on Nic Wilhelmi’s RBI-ground out.
Two walks and a fielder’s choice had runners on first and second for Winterset in the fourth when Nick Nelson flew out to Kyle Nevitt in center field. Colton Patterson had advanced from second on the play, but Perry’s appeal that he had left the base early while tagging up was denied, a call that had immediate consequences.
Rather than being out of the inning, Winterset continued their at-bat, and Sellers came through with a two-run double to right-center. Jack Barker then doubled in Sellers to push the lead to 4-1.
Whiton walked, stole second, moved up on a ground out and then stole home to trim the deficit to 4-2 in the fifth, but two errors surrounding a Sellers infield single put the gap back at three runs as the guests scored once in the top of the sixth.
Alex Long relieved Whiton for the seventh and was greeted by two doubles, a single and a walk before he could record two outs. Sellers drove in eighth and ninth runs for the Huskies with a base hit, with the guests loading the bases before a fly out to Nevitt stopped the surge.
Whiton was handed the loss after allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks in six frames. He finished with 10 strikeouts, while Long had one strikeout while walking two, allowing four hits and yielding four runs in one frame on the hill.
Nevitt, Whiton and Janier Puente all had singles, the only hits Donohoe allowed. Whiton drew two walks, scored both runs and finished with four stolen bases.
Perry hosts Carroll Wednesday and Boone Thursday before stepping out of the conference for a varsity doubleheader at Knoxville Friday.
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WINTERSET 9, PERRY 2
at Progressive Field, June 22
Team R H E
WNT 001 301 4 — 9 8 0
PRY 001 010 0 — 2 3 5
WNT: Donohoe and Brookhart. PRY: Whiton (6), Long (1) and Roberts. WP: Donohoe. LP: Whiton. 2B — WNT: Donohoe, Sellers, Van Pelt, Barker. LOB — WNT: 9; PRY: 4.