The Wildcats baseball team continues to impress and make opposing teams cautious of how to handle Paden City as they won all three of their complete games on the week.

It would have been a perfect week, but Coach Croasmun’s team dropped a 12-10 decision to the Bridgeport Bulldogs that was suspended earlier in the season during the Ohio school’s invitational.

Paden City started off the week in impressive fashion going up against a stingy Doddridge County team. When the two teams previously met, the ‘Cats were sent home with a tough 4-3 loss. With revenge on their minds much like they did against St. Marys, they came out firing on all cylinders.

After going down 1-0 in the first inning, the Wildcats inundated the Bulldogs with an 11-run barrage occurring during the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Coty Meadows started the offensive output in the bottom of the fourth as he smashed the ball into the outfield that was good for a double. He would earn the RBI as a speedy Wes Cosper came around to score all the way from first base.

With Zach Yost serving as a courtesy runner, Ricky Wright would move him to third base on a ground out. Justin Grimes would then hit one to right-center allowing Yost to end the scoring in the fourth inning.

The Wildcats could sense things were falling apart for Doddridge County in the fifth inning when Chaz Heasley found himself on base after an error. As experienced and talented ballclubs do, they made sure to take advantage of their mistakes.

The hard-hitting Chris Loy moved him to third on a base hit before Coty Beaver was walked to load the bases. Malakai Anderson then beamed a base hit good for a two-RBI single scoring Heasley and Ryan Jacobs.

With Ryan Thoburn up to bat, Anderson stole second base which allowed Beaver to score after an error on the catcher as he threw the ball over second base and into the outfield making the score 5-1. Thoburn then hit the ball to right field easily scoring Anderson.

Cosper added insult to injury as his hit to left field caused the seven-position player to misjudge the ball and barely go over his head which ended up rolling to the fence. Thoburn would score and Cosper arrived safely at second base.

After a pitching change, Cosper would steal third on the new pitcher’s first throw. He would reach home safely a short time after on a double steal after Yost served as a courtesy runner again. Yost advanced to third on another throwing error by the catcher.

Still with no outs, Croasmun called for a bunt from Grimes. It was an excellent call and executed to perfection by Grimes who drew an imaginary line pararell to the one already drawn to first base. He was able to leg out the hit and Yost scored easily on an uncontested play. That left the score 9-1, but the ‘Dogs would remain unscathed the rest of the inning.

They attempted to answer back in the top of the sixth with three runs, but the Wildcats made sure they were safe in the bottom half of the frame.

Thoburn started the offense again in the bottom of six with an RBI double scoring Cosper. Meadows ended the scoring for the ‘Cats with an RBI. He finished 2-3 from the plate.

Grimes and Thoburn each finished 2-3 with two RBIs. Cosper had two hits including a double and Anderson reached with a hit as the two split two RBIs.

Josh Bennett was credited with the win as he pitched six innings and fanned five Bulldogs.

“He had excellent stuff tonight,” said Croasmun on Bennett.

“He had a real good fastball. The curveball wasn’t working as well as I’d like for it to, but he threw a lot of strikes. He was ahead of the batters. He struck out five and didn’t walk any.

Thoburn came on in relief for the seventh inning and sat down one and finishing the game in the 11-4 win. Both pitchers combined didn’t give a single base on balls.

“Anytime you get your pitchers to give you a seven inning ballgame and not give up any walks, you’re probably going to win the ballgame.”

It helps to have solid pitching, but an added bonus is when your team can score 10 or more runs on any given night.

“That’s kind of been the trend for us lately,” said Croasmun on his teams offensive outburst.

“Hang in there, hang in there, hang in there, and then in the middle of the game at some point get a bunch of hits together which we did tonight. The last two games, that hasn’t happened. We’ve had guys on base, but we haven’t been able to get a key hit. Tonight finally in the fifth inning we got some hits in bunches.

“As I’ve said many times before, baseball is a game of ups and downs. One minute you’re on top of the mountain. The next minute you’re down in the valley. You just have to keep fighting back and forth.”

Additionally, the game served as senior night for five Wildcat players, all of who received some playing time in one way or another.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a winning record, and these seniors haven’t been on a winning team so far in their careers, so they’re guaranteed of that right now. We owe a lot of our success in the baseball program to them. Grimes, Beaver and Meadows have been here for four years and Jacobs has been here for three years, so those guys have been here with us through thick and thin and I’m just happy they have the chance to be on a winning baseball team. They’ve contributed a lot and we’re going to miss them a lot next year.”

For those wondering, the fifth player is German exchange student Patrick Rieger who is still learning the game of baseball, but his skills have improved through the season. During the scoring outburst, he had his opportunity to pinch run. After a passed ball, he took initiative and attempted to steal third. The ball however took a good bounce to the catcher and Rieger was thrown out.

It wouldn’t have been senior night if it wasn’t for a postponed game the day before against the Bridgeport Bulldogs. Instead, the game against Bridgeport was made up Friday with the teams picking up the aforementioned suspended game.

A few weeks ago, Paden City was down 12-10 when the game was called off. Resuming with the same score, the game remained the same the last few innings as neither team scored.

Cosper, Anderson and Grimes all had two hits and an RBI in the seperated game. Loy also threw in a single with three RBIs.

In game two, Paden City again used a big fifth inning to propel them to the win. Again they were down one at 2-1 going into the last half of the game, but a five-run fifth and a single run in the sixth put them on top for good in a 7-3 win.

Anderson scored the win with six punch outs. Cosper also pitched striking out one. They both helped their own cause through the game with each getting a single and a double. Meadows, Wright, Grimes, Heasley and Beaver all had hits and RBIs.

Monday evening, Paden City opened up the sectional tournament with a game against Valley that largely resembled batting practice.

The hosts ripped into the Lumberjacks from the get-go with a five run first and a three-run second. After a scoreless third, the offense rumbled for two touchdowns, or so it seemed, with 14 runs in the fourth.

All the while, Bennett and Heasley shut out the ‘Jacks from the mound, limiting their rivals to only two hits. Bennett struck out six while Heasley sat down two.

On the other hand, the Wildcats had another field day with Valley. Cosper was perfect at the plate going 5-5 with a double and four RBIs. Thoburn, Wright, Loy and Meadows all had three hits and shared nine RBIs.

Grimes had two hits and three RBIs, Heasley had two hits and two RBIs, Anderson had two hits and two RBIs, and Beaver had one hit and two RBIs.’