White Pine Baseball splits with Awaken Christian stamped by 17-0 rout

The White Pine High School Baseball team played three games last week, one non-2A South league game and two conference games.

To begin the week, the Bobcats hosted Elko for a non-league game against the Indians. White Pine lost 2-0 as both runs scored off errors in the first and sixth innings, respectively. The Bobcats, who committed four errors, were also unable to get the offense rolling, being limited to just four hits offensively.

Senior Tucker Maestes went 2-for-4 as did fellow senior Maverick Mangum, both registered a hit for White Pine.

On the mound, head coach Quinn Ewell utilized four pitchers in seniors Jackson Armstrong and Dylan Cessford, junior Jacob Hall, and sophomore Maddox Sedlacek.
Armstrong went three innings, while allowing two hits, one walk, and struck out three. Cessford and Sedlacek each pitched an inning. Cessford worked around a base hit, while Sedlacek gave up an unearned run, despite striking out two hitters. Hall worked the other two innings, allowing the other unearned run with a hit and a walk, while striking out one.

After facing Elko, which was the team’s final non-conference game of the regular season, it was on to Las Vegas where White Pine played at Awaken Christian.
It was a tale of two games, as both teams each won a game in the doubleheader.

In the first game, White Pine jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. However, Awaken Christian outscored the Bobcats 12-1 over the next four innings. That led to a 13-4 loss for White Pine where they also committed four errors.

Eight of the 13 runs scored were a result of the errors. Hall threw four innings, allowing just two hits, and four walks, and struck out seven. All seven of the runs he gave up were unearned.

Also pitching for Ewell was Armstrong, who went three innings, allowing four hits, six runs (five earned), six walks, and struck out two.

Offensively, sophomore Jacob Derbidge went 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs to pace the Bobcats.

Things changed immediately in the second game, especially for Sedlacek.

Despite allowing three errors in the first game, Sedlacek bounced back by throwing a four-inning one-hitter in a 17-0 blowout win over the Lions.

Sedlacek struck out 10 in the win while allowing two walks in 63 pitches.

Offensively, six different Bobcats had at least two hits with Sedlacek also producing at the plate, going 3-for-5 with five RBIs and a triple. In addition, both Maestes and Cessford each went 2-for-2 with four runs. Cessford also walked both times, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances as he stole three bases.

Mangum and Derbidge also went 2-for-4 and the two combined for five RBIs for a well-balanced offensive approach. To round it out, Hall went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI.

With the victory, White Pine moves to 9-7 overall and 4-2 in the league play, remaining in third place. The Bobcats sit two games behind Needles and Lake Mead, who are both coming up on White Pine’s schedule. As a result, the league title is still in the mix for the Bobcats.

Sedlacek has raised his batting average to .553, which ranks third in the league, while his .921 slugging percentage ranks second. He also has 19 RBIs, which ranks third. On the mound, Sedlacek leads the league with 41 strikeouts as Hall sits in sixth at 27.

Up next, White Pine returns home to face Laughlin on April 11 for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.