Pirates beat Greenwood 6-2 for first baseball win of season
GILMAN BASEBALL
The Gilman Pirates took some lumps in their first three Eastern Cloverbelt Conference baseball outings, but they broke though on Monday, overcoming cold, wind and the Greenwood Indians to earn a 6-2 victory.
The game, originally scheduled to be played in Gilman, was moved to Greenwood. The teams will reverse sites for the rematch this coming Tuesday. While most games in the area were postponed due to Monday’s conditions, the Pirates and Indians decided to play on.
The Pirates made the most of it, using a five-run third-inning rally to take control of the game for good.
Grady Kroeplin got the pitching win, going 5.2 innings with his 94 pitches. He struck out 11 Greenwood batters, walked four and allowed just two hits. Both of Greenwood’s runs were earned.
Offensively, Gilman got nine hits off Greenwood pitchers Gage Ludovic and River Glynn. Ludovic took the loss, allowing seven of the hits and all six runs. All of them were earned. Each Greenwood pitcher struck out three batters.
Dalton Wisocky, Trevor Vick and Brayden Olynick all went two for four at the plate for Gilman.
The Pirates struck first in the top of the second when Vick singled, worked his way to third and scored on Olynick’s groundout. Greenwood came right back with a run in its half, getting an RBI single from Christopher Prusinski.
But Gilman loaded the bases with no outs in the top of third on an Alex Copenhaver single, Joey Syryczuk getting hit by a pitch and Grady Kroeplin walking. Wisocky’s two-run single and Vick’s RBI single were the key hits while the Pirates also stole home a couple of times. Adam Draeger also had a hit in the rally.
The Pirates kept Greenwood off the board until the sixth when the Indians scored on a wild pitch. Dawson Robinson got the last four outs for Gilman, striking out one and allowing a hit.
Two league losses
The excitement of Monday’s win was washed away Tuesday when league-leading Neillsville completed a season sweep of the Pirates with a 25-0 thumping in Gilman.
The Warriors scored nine times in the first inning, six times in the second and added eight runs in the third to run away with it. Neillsville outhit Gilman 19-3 and the Pirates didn’t help themselves with five errors.
The tough part about the first inning for Gilman was that the Pirates retired the first two batters on fly balls. Unfortunately they didn’t get the third out until Neillsville had gotten five hits, including Bryce Erickson’s three-run triple, four walks and a hit batter. The Warriors continued to slowly bleed out runs and hits from there. Neillsville’s 19 hits included just two that went for extra bases.
Gavin Barth and Austin Gross had three hits apiece for the winners.
Gilman got hits from Olynick, Dawson Grunseth and Wyatt Webster. Syryczuk started for Gilman on the mound and allowed 11 hits, six walks and 15 runs with all but one being earned in two innings. Grunseth went two-thirds of an inning and got a strikeout while walking one and allowing three hits and eight runs, none of which were earned. Robinson covered the last 2.1 innings and allowed five hits and two unearned runs.
Gavin McFarlane struck out seven, walked one and allowed three hits while pitching all five innings for Neillsville, who improved to 6-0 in the conference and 8-1 overall.
The Pirates lost their home opener to Loyal on Thursday 11-0.
The damage in that one was done in the first inning when the Greyhounds scored eight of their runs. They sent 12 men to the plate in that half-inning and got seven hits to keep the line moving and lead growing.
The Pirates held Loyal off the board for two innings before allowing three more in the top of the fourth inning, which allowed the Greyhounds to put the 10-run rule into effect after the fifth.
Robinson took the loss on the mound. Cain Toufar was the winning pitcher. Gilman finished with three hits, two of which came from Kroeplin. He singled and stole second in the first inning but got not further. He tripled in the fourth but two strikeouts and a fly ball ended that scoring chance. Brayden Olynick added a single in the fifth.
Gilman hosts the Owen-Withee Blackhawks today, Thursday, while continuing conference play. This will be the first matchup of the season between the two teams. After hosting Greenwood on Tuesday at 5 p.m., Gilman will host the Spencer Rockets on May 11 for the second matchup of the spring between those teams. Spencer took the first one 12-1 on April 25.
Gilman will be at Loyal for that rematch on May 12.
