The Van Buren County Warriors dropped a heartbreaker in the conference opener vs the Burlington Notre Dame Nikes 4-2
The game saw both starters throw solid outings for their respective teams. The top of the first saw Taylor Sprouse retire the first two batters of the inning before Carson Chiprez collected an infield hit. The Nikes would catch an early break when Dylan Kipp would get on after a fly ball to left field was dropped that allowed Chiprez to score to give the Nikes the 1-0 lead. Sprouse would bounce back with an inning-ending strikeout of Logan Brent. The Nikes starter Jackson Brent would also have a good start as he would retire the side in the opening frame as the Nikes would lead 1-0 after one. Both pitchers would throw shutout innings in the second. For the Nikes, they would strand one and for the Warriors, they would be sat down in order. The Nikes held a 1-0 after two innings. The teams would see both pitchers throw strong. The Nikes would collect another run in the third off a Carson Chiprez RBI to give the Nikes a 2-0 lead. The Nikes would strand runners in the third and fourth innings. The Warriors would be no-hit through 3 and a third innings before Bailey Roen had a base hit in the fourth. The Warriors would strand three hits across the fourth and fifth innings. After five innings the Nikes lead 2-0. After a strong sixth from Sprouse who stranded another runner, the Warriors broke through in the bottom of the sixth. The inning opened with Izaak Loeffler who walked, Roen knocked a hit, and a fielder’s choice had runners on the corners with one out. Sprouse would break the Warriors through when he collected a ground-out RBI as the Warriors cut the lead to 2-1. After the second walk of the inning, the Warriors would catch a break. As Lukas McEntee broke for second base the catcher threw down to second and when nobody covered the base the ball ended up in centerfield that allowing the second run to score. The game was tied at 2 after 6 innings. The Nikes had an answer in the seventh inning as they lead off the inning with three straight hits. The Nikes were able to push two runs across to lead 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh. The Warriors would get the tieing run to the plate but would get no closer and fall 4-2
Team leaders: Van Buren County—Taylor Sprouse-(No Decision) 6 IP, 9K, 0BB, 7H, 2R, 1ER and 1B, RBI; Maddix Kite and Bailey Roen both had two hits
Burlington Notre Dame—Jackson Brent-(No Decision) 5 IP, 6K, 0BB, 3H, 0R, 0ER
With the loss the Warriors fall to 1-2, 0-1, and the Nikes open their season with a win-now 1-0, 1-0. Up next for the Warriors they travel to take on Pekin Tuesday night a game you can catch on KTWA, for the Nikes they travel to West Burlington Tuesday night
The Van Buren County JV team picked up their first win of the season defeating Burlington Notre Dame 3-2 in walk-off fashion to improve to 1-2 on the season
