The Onaga High School baseball team hit the road last Tuesday night for its first league game of the season as it took on Doniphan West in Highland. Doniphan West is in the second year of a cooperative with Riverside, so the two school presented a formidable challenge, but still were able to sweep the Mustangs and improve their record to 4-0 on the season.
Onaga got the scoring going early in the first inning when sophomore Jackson Kolterman scored on a passed ball. Senior Colby Simkins walked as well and, after stealing a base and then advancing on an error, he would score on a ground ball by sophomore L.J. Koelzer to give the Buffaloes a 2-0 lead in the first frame.
Onaga would pour on more runs with four in the second inning, four more in the third, one in the fourth, and another four runs in the top of the fifth.
Simkins toed the rubber for Onaga for the second straight double-header. The pitcher threw all five innings, allowing five hits and three runs (two earned), while striking out 11 and walking just one. He has now struck out 17 batters, the third most in the entire state of Kansas, in just nine innings this year, while only walking three.
Junior Ryder Davis was on the hill for Doniphan West/Riverside. He lasted just three innings, allowing seven hits and ten runs while striking out three. Freshman Kolter Peterson threw two innings in relief out of the bullpen.
The Buffaloes scattered 13 hits in the game. Senior Jeramia Dorsey, Simkins, Fisher, Kolterman, and junior Rayce Fisher all had multiple hits for Onaga. Dorsey led the team with three hits in four at bats. Onaga continued to be aggressive on the base paths, stealing nine bases during the game as three players stole more than one. Simkins led the way with three.
In the second game of the double-header the Buffaloes got off to another good start, but didn’t produce as many runs thanks to as good of pitching as Onaga had faced this year. Onaga also weathered a push by Doniphan West/Riverside in the fifth inning where the Buffaloes coughed up three runs, but Onaga still hung on for the win.
Onaga got things moving in the first inning again when L.J. Koelzer, one of the Buffaloes hottest hitters through the early part of the season, singled on a 1-0 count, scoring fellow sophomore Jackson Kolterman who had led off the game with a line drive single. Junior Hunter Lamond then singled on a line drive to center field, scoring senior Colby Simkins who had reached on a walk.
The Buffaloes poured on three more runs in the second inning which was led off with a single by senior Colby Fordham. Later, senior Zac Fisher was hit by a pitch, Simkins followed that up with a double that scored Fordham and put Fisher on third base. Then Koelzer drove both of the seniors in with a line drive to center field to give Onaga a 5-0 lead in the top of the second.
The Mustangs would score in the third but the Buffaloes would notch one of their own in the fourth. Then Doniphan West/Riverside strung together some hits and Onaga committed an error which helped cut the lead to 6-4 after five innings. But the Buffaloes would score a run in both the sixth and seventh innings, and the defense tightened to finish out the game with an 8-4 win.
Zac Fisher was credited with the victory for Onaga. The righty allowed seven hits and four runs, only two of which were earned, over seven innings, striking out eight and walking just one.
Sophomore Cooper Eberly took the loss for Doniphan West. The hurler surrendered seven runs on nine hits over five innings, striking out seven.
The Buffaloes tallied 11 hits in the game. Koelzer, Lamond, Simkins, and Dorsey all managed multiple hits for Onaga, with Koelzer leading the way with three hits in four at bats.
The Buffalo offense has been hitting on all cylinders in the first four games and the pitching and defense has been good as well, as Onaga has outscored their opponents 60-9 en route to a 4-0 start. Those numbers are impressive, even at the state level. According to MaxPreps, Jackson Kolterman’s 12 runs scored are tied for the most in the state of Kansas, and he’s followed by Zac Fisher in third place with 11 runs, and Colby Simkins in fourth place with 9 runs.
Onaga has tried to be as aggressive on the base paths as possible and that has led Fisher to steal 10 bases already, the second most in the state. Simkins is right behind him with 9 stolen bases, tied for the fourth most in Kansas.
Fisher and Simkins have been lights out on the mound thus far as well. Both are 2-0 so far, and Simkins has struck out 17 batters in just 9 innings so far, the second most strikeouts in the state. Fisher isn’t far behind, sitting in eighth place in the state with 13 strikeouts in 11 innings, and having walked just 2 batters.
The Buffaloes will look to continue their hot start on Thursday night when they host Blue Valley in a league battle. This will be the first varsity games of the Rams’ program and the season home opener for Onaga. First pitch on Thursday will be at 4:30pm at Grover Eddy Field.
You can check out the baseball team's roster, look at stats, follow results, look at the program’s history, and much more, head over to the team's page on the school website, www.usd322.org/page/baseball.