Hilltopper baseball drops pair of conference games
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A youthful Glenwood City baseball team continued to experience growing pains.
Opposing hitters once again feasted on the Toppers’ pitching while the defense struggled with errors.
In conference losses to Durand and Mondovi last week, Glenwood City pitching surrendered 38 hits, 19 to each team, and 39 runs while the Toppers tallied double digits in errors – nine versus the Panthers and four more in Mondovi.
After a 24-0 home whitewashing by Durand last Monday, May 10, Glenwood City made the long trek to Mondovi Thursday, May 13 where the Buffaloes beat the Toppers 15-5.
The latest setbacks dropped the Hilltoppers’ 2021 season mark to 0-6 which is also their conference recored.
Glenwood City will have its busy week yet with four games over the next eight days which began with a home game against Elk Mound Monday. Spring Valley will travel to GC for a game this Thursday, May 20 with the Toppers heading to Unity on Friday for its first foray against a non-conference opponent. They will then face unbeaten Boyceville on the Bulldogs’ home turf next Monday, May 24.
Durand
It was all Panthers from start to finish.
Durand jumped out front early with eight runs in the first inning en route to a 24-0, five-inning shellacking of host Glenwood City last Monday, May 10.
The Panthers, who chewed up Glenwood City pitching for 19 hits, scored eight more runs in the fourth to go along with four runs each in the third and fifth innings.
Eli Whitwam led the Panthers hit parade with a 4-for-6 performance at the plate including a double. Ethan Fedie was 3-for-5, and Jacob Bechel and Gunnar Hurlburt each had two hits with Hurlburt belting a three-run homer to finish with five RBIs.
Senior Gavin Janson took the pitching loss for the Toppers. He started and lasted two and two-third innings having given up ten hits and nine runs, seven of which were earned and walked three. Brady McCarthy and Noah Brite came on in relief. McCarthy surrendered 11 runs on five hits and walked seven in an inning and a third while Brite gave up four hits and as many runs and issued just one free base.
Offensively, Glenwood City finished with just five hits as it was kept off the scoreboard. McCarthy, Gavin Janson, Brendan Booth, Steven Booth, and Marcis DeSmith each had a hit against the Panthers’ Ethan Fedie who went all five inning for the mound win.
Mondovi
Once again the Toppers surrendered several early runs when they played in Mondovi Thursday.
The Buffaloes roughed up Toppers’ starting pitcher Max Janson for four runs in the first and then went on to add three more in the second, five in the third and one each in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames to claim a 15-5 victory.
Trailing 13-0 heading into the top of the fifth inning, Glenwood City bought some extra play with a five-run inning.
During the rally, Glenwood City picked up a couple of hits including a big two RBI single by Gavin Janson, drew two walks, and took advantage of a Panther error to plate five runs.
But, Durand scored single runs in the final two innings to secure the 10-run win in six innings.
Gavin Janson had half of the Toppers’ six hits with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate with a run score and two RBIs.