The Onaga baseball team hosted Valley Heights on Monday night in the first ever double-header between the two programs. The Mustangs started baseball at their school this school year and were off to a 5-5 start in their inaugural season heading into the matchup. The had them sitting at fourth place in the Eskridge regional, with the Buffaloes just ahead of them in third place at 7-3 on the year.
The first game of the day was a pitching dual between two seniors. Hunter Lamond was on the hill for Onaga, while former Buffalo Carson Spoonts toed the rubber for Valley Heights. Both players pitched complete games and allowed three hits apiece in the contest.
The Buffaloes got on the board first, as Spoonts struggled to find his command in the first inning. He walked Jackson Kolterman to lead off the game, then L.J. Koelzer singled to center field to put two on. Lamond followed that up with a walk to load the bases, and after a strikeout freshman Casen Hutfles grounded into a fielder’s choice to take a 1-0 lead.
Lamond was nearly flawless through three innings, allowing no hits, no runs, and walking one. Then in the top of the fourth, the Buffalo defense had a few hiccups, committing three errors in the frame. That would give the Mustangs their first run of the game, tying things up 1-1.
Lamond would load the bases with no outs in the fifth, but the senior never wavered, getting a fielder’s choice to take out the lead runner for out number one, then striking out the next two batters to keep the game tied.
Then in the bottom of the fifth, Onaga would take back the lead after Kolterman walked and Koelzer hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1.
Lamond retired the side in the sixth, and Rayce Fisher led off the bottom of the inning with a double. Hutfles would ground out to advance Fisher to third base, then Jacob Ronnebaum walked. A delayed steal took him to second, and a Dylan Magnett sacrifice bunt would score Fisher to make it 3-1.
In the top of the seventh, the Mustangs made it interesting. Lamond put Logan Gray on with a hit-by-pitch, but then struck out the next batter. Jayden DeWalt would single to center field to put the tying run on first, then a balk by Lamond advanced Grey to third and DeWalt to second with one out.
With the tying run now on second, Lamond struck out Cayden Dummermuth for the second out. Onaga would then intentionally walk Spoonts to create force outs at every bag. With two outs, Lamond got Brayden DeWalt to hit a pop up to left field, where freshman Maddex Honas made an athletic play to get to the ball and make the catch to end the game.
Lamond earned the win for the Buffaloes to improve to 4-1 on the season, surrendering just three hits and striking out seven batters, allowing no earned runs in the complete-game effort.
Fisher, Koelzer, and freshman Xavier Berges amassed the three total hits for Onaga in the ballgame, while Koelzer, Magnett, and Hutfles drove in runs. Kolterman led the team with three stolen bases in the contest.
Game two was much less exciting, as the Buffaloes blew out the Mustangs in a three-inning run rule. Kolterman got the start on the mound and continued to pitch well. The junior was coming off back-to-back complete games against Jackson Heights and St. Marys, both of which were wins where he had given up two total earned runs in fourteen innings pitched.
He got the job done again on the mound and led the offensive onslaught with three hits in three at bats, including his second triple of the season. Onaga scored nine runs in the second inning and seven in the third to end the game early. Fisher, Kolterman, Koelzer, and Berges all stole multiple bases, while Kolterman led the team in hits.
Kolterman earned the win for the Buffaloes to improve his record to 4-2 on the season. He allowed just one hit in the game, a two-run homer to right that got up in the air and caught in the jet stream that was coming through northeast Kansas that evening.
The Buffaloes are now 9-3 overall this season and remain third in the regional standings, right on the heals of Frankfort/Centralia (8-2) and Mission Valley (12-2) as they head into the final few weeks of the regular season. Onaga will head to Troy on Friday, April 19th for a double-header with the Trojans.
You can check out the baseball team's roster, look at stats, follow results, look at the program’s history, and much more by heading over to the team's page on the school website, www.usd322.org/page/baseball.