The Washington Demons secured their first victory in a conference baseball series this season by knocking off Keokuk 7-6 last night at Dick Sotjka Memorial Field in Washington.
The Demons fell behind after Keokuk scored three runs in the first inning and another in the second. With two outs in the third, Washington woke up the bats and summoned five straight hits to score four times and tie the game.
The Chiefs took the lead back with a run in the fourth and were still in front 6-4 when the Demons again rallied in the sixth. After the lead-off runner reached by getting hit by a pitch, sophomore Caden Greiner came up with a base hit and junior Mason Morgan drew a walk to load the bases with only one out.
A wild pitch allowed one run to score, and with two gone in the inning, junior Nate Edmonds reached safely on a ground ball at first base that Keokuk threw away, allowing the tying and go-ahead runs to both score.
Junior Luke Schiebel came in to pitch the seventh and picked up a pair of strikeouts on his way to the save. After the game, Washington head coach T.J. Rausch told KCII Sports that his team got a spark from one of its veterans and caught fire.
“Tonight was just an absolute grind,” Rausch said. “[We] came out the gates slow [with] not a whole lot of energy, and then Luke Beenblossom, our senior, kind of pulled everybody aside and just said ‘Hey, let’s go, right now.’ And then we pop off for four runs that inning.”
Junior Conner Leyden and Beenblossom and fellow senior Caleb Zieglowsky each had one hit and one run batted in, while Edmonds got the victory on the mound after pitching a scoreless sixth inning.
Freshman Blayze Richardson got the start and allowed only three earned runs on eight hits as the Demons win back-to-back games for the first time this season and improve to 4-12 overall and 3-8 in the Southeast Conference.
Meanwhile, Washington softball suffered its first conference loss of the season in facing Keokuk yesterday evening. The Chiefs scored twice each in the second and third innings to go in front, but the Demons put up four runs in the fourth to tie the game.
Unfortunately, that would be the only scoring Washington did the rest of the night, and while the game would go to extra innings, Keokuk’s three runs in the ninth would be enough to give them a 7-4 victory.
Senior Rylee Libe and sophomore Leighton Salazar had one hit and one run batted in each, while Libe joined freshman Colbie Greiner and juniors Lauren and Kendall Hinrichsen in each scoring once.
The Demons, ranked eighth in the state in Class 3A, fall to 11-1 in conference play and 21-5 overall. While Washington baseball next plays tonight against Williamsburg, the softball squad takes a day off to prepare for the Eddie Jones Memorial Invitational that they will host tomorrow.