Bulldogs open baseball season with double-header against Akron

The Haxtun Bulldogs split a double-header with Akron to open the 2022 baseball season. The Bulldogs hosted the Rams last Tuesday in a chilly, windy afternoon contest. This year's 22-man roster is led by Head Coach Trenton Ham and Assistant Coach Ryan Nolin and includes senior leaders Owen Knode, David Avery and Isaac Andersen.

Haxtun took game one of the double header, a league win, to give the Bulldogs a 1-1 start to the season and a 1-0 record in the Lower Platte League. The Bulldogs were scheduled to take on Holyoke later in the week but that match up was postponed following a tragic accident that claimed the life of a Holyoke High School student.

The Bulldogs opened the first contest of the season with a 3-0 advantage over the Rams after one inning of play. The team went on to add two additional runs in the second to hold a 5-0 lead heading into the third. Akron came out swinging in the third, adding seven runs to the board to even things out. Haxtun battled throughout the fourth and fifth innings but it all came down to the sixth when the Bulldogs came up with four runs to take the advantage. Akron added two in the seventh but it wasn't enough to tie things up; Haxtun took the one run win, 11-10.

Andersen batted 1.000 in game one again the Rams. He notched two runs from four plate appearances and registered four runs batted in. Keegan Colglazier went .500 with one run, one hit and three RBIs. Avery, Jerron Turney, Owen Knode and Michael Gerk all batted .333. Gerk tallied two RBIs followed by Turney and Kyle Fryrear, each with one.

As a team, the Bulldogs earned a .269 batting average in game one against Akron last week. The team registered nine stolen bases, three of those from the base running of Fryrear.

Kaiden Schelling earned the win on the mound, pitching three of the seven innings for the Bulldogs. He allowed just one walk and struck out two batters. Turney pitched just over two innings, sitting down six batters and walking only four. Mason Bornhoft also saw an inning on the mound, he struck out one batter.

Akron came out strong in the second contest of the day, specifically the second inning, when the Rams put up 11 runs to take an early 11-1 advantage over the Bulldogs. Haxtun put up one run in the first and four in the second while trying to play catch up. Akron added another five in the third and one in each of the fourth and fifth innings to go on to claim an 18-6 win in game two.

Knode earned a 1.000 average in the second game of the day. From three plate appearances the senior tallied two hits and one RBI. Freshman Ryland Wolff batted .500 with one run and one hit. Gerk and Fryrear each tallied a .333 average. Gerk also registered one RBI in game two.

The Bulldog's earned a .250 batting average with six runs and five hits. As a team, Haxtun registered seven stolen bases including two each from Owen and Fryrear.

A handful of pitchers took the mound in game two, including Bornhoft, Gerk, Braden Plumb, Kailin Kelley and Andersen. Gerk and Andersen each registered three strikeouts against the Rams.

This week the Bulldogs took on Sedgwick County on the road Tuesday afternoon. They are also slated to host Wiggins at home on Saturday in a double-header beginning at 11 a.m.

The Tigers from Wiggins also hold a 1-1 record thus far in the season with a win over Caliche and a loss to Limon.