Bay Port’s Call Verlanic fires a pitch in the Pirates’ 8-4 victory over Ashwaubenon May 1.

ASHWAUBENON – The Bay Port baseball team officially began its conference season against Fox River Classic Conference rival Ashwaubenon May 1 at Ashwaubemay Park.

The Pirates used a seven-run second inning en route to an 8-4 victory on a warm and windy afternoon for baseball.

Bay Port’s big inning included five hits and three Jaguar errors. Both Call Verlanic and Bobby Tilot had two-RBI hits in the frame.

“Overall it was a good victory in our first conference game,” said Bay Port head coach Mike Simoens. “Call threw well early on and we hit the ball. I was happy with our defense, too. Sometimes when you get up big on a team you have a tendency to relax a little bit. We always talk about those tack-on runs because inevitably the other team is going to score. We didn’t get any of those, but fortunately our pitching was good down the stretch.”

Tilot – who had three RBI overall – brought in Verlanic in the first inning with a double. Things could have been worse, but Ashwaubenon pitcher Logan Blazek stranded the bases loaded, giving up just the one run.

Verlanic’s two-RBI double in the second scored Josh Shackelford and Jake Berg, before Tilot’s big hit a batter later scored Brett Stanzel and Verlanic. Jake Hebert – who had singled – was knocked in by Logan Donart’s RBI hit to end the marathon inning, where 11 Pirates batted.

“Give some credit to Ashwaubenon,” Simoens added. “Being down 8-0 they could have easily rolled over and given up, but they didn’t. They did a nice job closing us down after the first few innings. Maybe our pitch selection at the plate wasn’t as good as it needed to be and we swung at a few border-line pitches. They weren’t throwing real hard, so we were out in front of a lot of pitches. It was a matter of discipline.”

Ashwaubenon’s Michael Rottier blasted a two-run homer in the third to cut the deficit to 8-2 after Will Adair had drawn a one-out walk. There was a steady wind blowing out to right-center, but Rottier’s blast was well over the fence anyway.

Adair drilled a one-out double in the fifth and eventually scored on a Brady Witting RBI single. Rottier also scored in the inning to close the scoring.

Verlanic started on the mound for Bay Port and went 4.1 innings, giving up all four runs on four hits. He struck out three but walked four. Jett Thielke came on in relief and pitched the final 2.2 innings and didn’t give up a run. He struck out four and gave up just two hits.

Besides Verlanic and Tilot, Shackelford also had a pair of hits, including a triple in the seventh. Brett Stanzel and Jordan Bindas had the other hits for Bay Port, who rapped out 10 as a team.

Defensively, the Pirates committed just one error and the catcher Hebert picked off two Ashwaubenon baserunners – one in the third and another in the sixth.

Blazek was the hard-luck loser, as only one of his eight runs he gave up was earned, thanks to five Jaguar errors. The righty surrendered nine hits and walked three in his three innings of work.

After Blazek exited, Griffin Bairel and Zach Huguet combined didn’t allow a run over the last four innings and gave up only one hit.

Jeremy Cox and Will Baeten also had base knocks for the Jags.

BOX SCORE

Bay Port: 170 000 0 – 8, 10, 1
Ashwaubenon: 002 020 0 – 4, 6, 5

BP: Leading hitters – Shackelford 2×3, Verlanic 2×4, Tilot 2×4; RBI – Tilot (3), Verlanic (2), Shackelford (2), Donart (1); 2B – Tilot, Verlanic; 3B – Shackelford; Pitching – Verlanic (W): 4.1 IP, 4 hits, 4 runs (4 earned), 4 BB, 3 SO; Jett Thielke: 2.2 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 BB, 4 SO.

ASH: Leading hitters – Rottier 2×3; RBI – Rottier (2), Wittig (1), Baeten (1); 2B – Adair, Baeten; HR – Rottier; Pitching – Blazek (L): 3.0 IP, 9 hits, 8 runs (1 earned), 3 BB, 0 SO; Bairel: 2.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 BB, 0 SO; Huguet: 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 BB, 4 SO.