The Holly Wildcats, who have enjoyed a prolific baseball dynasty for the past few years, continues to roll along in one of the toughest Districts in the state—District 4. But, in the final series of the regular season, they hit a little road bump as they traveled to McClave and had to settle with a split in the double header.
McClave (12-6) got the best of Holly (15-4) in Game 1 of the series on Friday, April 28 winning the pitcher’s duel, 1-0. Holly got the second game win, 4-1. With that outcome, it was enough to put the Wildcats on top of the bracket in this week’s District 4 Tournament where they will host #8 Granada on Tuesday, May 2 at 4:00 pm.
McClave’s strong finish got them the #3 seed in the bracket. They will go head-to-head with #5 Stratton, probably one of the scariest 10-8 teams in the state. This first round game is do-or-die for both teams and will be held in McClave on Tuesday, May 2 at 4:00 pm.
In Game 1 against Holly, the Cardinals’ junior ace Karson Roesch was on the hill and threw a no-hit, shut-out. That’s nearly unheard of against the strong hitters from Holly. Roesch went the distance working through 5 innings, giving up no hits and no runs, walked just one batter and struck out 6 Wildcats. The McClave defense was stellar behind the right-hander.
The Cardinals managed to get 2 hits in the game and that would prove to be just enough to slip in with the 1-0 victory. In the bottom of the third inning freshman Mason Barr pounded out a double putting himself in scoring position for senior Aydin Gomez who also hit a double bringing Barr home.
Julian Terrazas took the loss for the Wildcats. The senior worked through 4 innings, gave up the 2 hits and one earned run, walked one batter, and also struck out six.
The bats for Holly came to life somewhat in Game 2 as they would jump on the Cards in the first inning scoring one run and then added 2 more in the top of the third. Leading 3-1, the Wildcats managed one more run in their final at-bat to win 4-1.
Each team had three hits, but the difference in the game was the 2 errors committed by McClave.
McClave senior Aiden Martinez suffered the loss for the Cards working a complete game in 5 innings, giving up 2 hits, 2 earned runs, walked three batters and struck out 8.
Holly threw three different pitchers at the Cards in order to get the win. Truman King would start the contest going 2 innings, giving up no hits, no runs, walked none and struck out 6 batters.
Andre Salgado came out of the bullpen for the mid-game work going 2.2 innings and giving up 2 hits, 1 earned run, walked 1, and struck out three. Devin Eaton finished the contest with .1 inning giving up 1 hit.
Barr again led the Cards offensively going 1-for-2 and scoring a run. Martinez helped himself a bit as he was 1-for-3 from the plate and added an RBI off of a double.
For Holly it was King who came through with a strong performance at the plate going 1-for-2 and using a triple to contribute 2 RBIs. Dylan Tamayo was 1-for-3 with an RBI and scored one run. Salgado was 1-for-2 and used a triple to score two runs.
Holly did lose one more game on Saturday in a non-conference trip to 2A Burlington, 7-2.
