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MORAVIA — Phil Helmick believed the Moravia baseball team could continue building on the success of a tremendous senior class.
If the weather would just cooperate, the Mohawks might already be on the verge of a fourth consecutive 20-win season.
"We were up by five runs the other night against Southeast Warren when the game was stopped due to rain. We were set to play Martensdale-St. Mary's in the finals of our home tournament this past weekend when the game was called off due to the heat," Helmick said. "If we can get some make-up games in, we're still on pace to get to 20 wins."
Moravia got one of the game impacted by rain in on Wednesday, overcoming an early run scored by Moulton-Udell in the very first inning to earn a 15-1 Bluegrass Conference victory. The Mohawks responded with eight runs in the bottom of the first, clinching their 18th straight win in the series with their longtime Appanoose County rivals.
"We just had to make sure to get our bats going early," Moravia sophomore Blake Ewing said. "If you can put the ball in play and force teams to make plays, it can be a big deal."
The Mohawks were able to use their bats to counter an early walk issued by Grantland McDanel that allowed Cam Swarts to reach base to open the game for the Eagles. Swarts stole second base and scored on a pair of wild pitches, giving M-U a 1-0 lead against Moravia.
"It's not often that we've been able to get a lead on Moravia," M-U head baseball coach Brydon Kaster said. "We just made a few defensive errors and things kind of snowballed on us."
Three dropped pop ups on the infield by the Eagles helped the Mohawks extend their opening inning, the first of which allowed Moravia to load the bases with one out in a 1-1 game. That brought up Casen Woodward, who lined a 3-2 pitch into centerfield giving the Mohawks a 3-1 lead.
"In practice, we always do situational hitting," Woodward said. "I just wanted to put the ball in play. It's just like the situations we practice every day, so this was a perfect time to put those lessons to good use and help our team advance further."
Elias Bronson matched Woodward by driving his own one-out pitch into center field with the bases loaded, driving in two more runs for Moravia opening a 5-1 lead over the Eagles. Ewing added a hard-hit RBI infield single to bring in Moravia's eighth run of the opening frame before driving in two more runs later in the contest with a two-run triple to dead center in the bottom of the fourth.
"It feels good to keep that momentum going for our team," Ewing said after finish 2-3, driving in three runs and scoring three more. "This team, I'm starting to realize, has a lot of potential. If we come to play, we can play with some really good teams and be a serious contender."
Woodward added a triple in the second inning, scoring on a wild pitch as the Mohawks continued to build on their early lead. The Moravia freshman also retired five of the final six batters in the game, striking out four batters in relief to close out the game.
"I felt like I threw decent," Woodward said. "I located well. My curveball wasn't there, but my fastball was kind of on."
Moravia (14-3, 8-0 Bluegrass) hosts Mormon Trail on Thursday before heading to Bussey on Friday to face Twin Cedars in a battle for the conference's east division title. Moulton-Udell (2-11, 1-9 Bluegrass) hosts Murray on Thursday before traveling to GMG for a non-conference contest on Saturday.
"The position that we're in and the direction we're going, there's a lot of good things coming for this team," Kaster said. "It's just a matter of getting our mindset right and getting ourselves locked in even in tough conditions. Even on days when it doesn't feel good to play baseball, you still get to play baseball. We've just got to come locked in and ready to go in those situations."
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If the weather would just cooperate, the Mohawks might already be on the verge of a fourth consecutive 20-win season.
"We were up by five runs the other night against Southeast Warren when the game was stopped due to rain. We were set to play Martensdale-St. Mary's in the finals of our home tournament this past weekend when the game was called off due to the heat," Helmick said. "If we can get some make-up games in, we're still on pace to get to 20 wins."
Moravia got one of the game impacted by rain in on Wednesday, overcoming an early run scored by Moulton-Udell in the very first inning to earn a 15-1 Bluegrass Conference victory. The Mohawks responded with eight runs in the bottom of the first, clinching their 18th straight win in the series with their longtime Appanoose County rivals.
"We just had to make sure to get our bats going early," Moravia sophomore Blake Ewing said. "If you can put the ball in play and force teams to make plays, it can be a big deal."
The Mohawks were able to use their bats to counter an early walk issued by Grantland McDanel that allowed Cam Swarts to reach base to open the game for the Eagles. Swarts stole second base and scored on a pair of wild pitches, giving M-U a 1-0 lead against Moravia.
"It's not often that we've been able to get a lead on Moravia," M-U head baseball coach Brydon Kaster said. "We just made a few defensive errors and things kind of snowballed on us."
Three dropped pop ups on the infield by the Eagles helped the Mohawks extend their opening inning, the first of which allowed Moravia to load the bases with one out in a 1-1 game. That brought up Casen Woodward, who lined a 3-2 pitch into centerfield giving the Mohawks a 3-1 lead.
"In practice, we always do situational hitting," Woodward said. "I just wanted to put the ball in play. It's just like the situations we practice every day, so this was a perfect time to put those lessons to good use and help our team advance further."
Elias Bronson matched Woodward by driving his own one-out pitch into center field with the bases loaded, driving in two more runs for Moravia opening a 5-1 lead over the Eagles. Ewing added a hard-hit RBI infield single to bring in Moravia's eighth run of the opening frame before driving in two more runs later in the contest with a two-run triple to dead center in the bottom of the fourth.
"It feels good to keep that momentum going for our team," Ewing said after finish 2-3, driving in three runs and scoring three more. "This team, I'm starting to realize, has a lot of potential. If we come to play, we can play with some really good teams and be a serious contender."
Woodward added a triple in the second inning, scoring on a wild pitch as the Mohawks continued to build on their early lead. The Moravia freshman also retired five of the final six batters in the game, striking out four batters in relief to close out the game.
"I felt like I threw decent," Woodward said. "I located well. My curveball wasn't there, but my fastball was kind of on."
Moravia (14-3, 8-0 Bluegrass) hosts Mormon Trail on Thursday before heading to Bussey on Friday to face Twin Cedars in a battle for the conference's east division title. Moulton-Udell (2-11, 1-9 Bluegrass) hosts Murray on Thursday before traveling to GMG for a non-conference contest on Saturday.
"The position that we're in and the direction we're going, there's a lot of good things coming for this team," Kaster said. "It's just a matter of getting our mindset right and getting ourselves locked in even in tough conditions. Even on days when it doesn't feel good to play baseball, you still get to play baseball. We've just got to come locked in and ready to go in those situations."
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