baseballnebraska.com

Publisher's note:  The following article was written by Robby Korth, a journalism major at UNL, as a project for his Sports Reporting class last semester.  Robby, a sophomore from Fayetteville, Arkansas, is the assistant sports editor at the Daily Nebraskan and is seeking a career as a sports journalist in a major market.  We appreciate Robby's cooperation in allowing us to publish his article and also thank Dr. David Ogden at the University of Nebraska Omaha for permission to publish his 2008 study about select baseball that is mentioned in the article.


Byron Hood will step onto the mound next season as a proven veteran for the Norris High School Titans.

The 16-year-old sophomore has already caught the attention of college scouts, receiving letters from programs across the country after a season featuring a no-hitter against Elkhorn South.

“He throws just over 90 mph,” said Colby Hood, Byron’s dad and Hickman Junior Legion assistant coach. “And when you’re throwing that hard people kind of turn and watch.”  At 8, Byron launched his baseball career with the Lincoln Dodgers, a select club that gives advanced players a chance to play at the highest level.

The Hoods spent countless hours on the road and a little bit less on fuel than Crete Carrier Corp. during those select years.

“We bought ourselves a camper,” Byron’s mom Jen Hood said. “We took our camper everywhere that we went and just stayed there and made it a vacation.”

Those were the only vacations the Hood family took during Byron’s childhood. The Hoods have three more kids ranging from 9 years old to 18 months. And they’re all about baseball and being active.

Byron Hood

But why be all about select baseball when there is so much more to life?

“It’s just the competitiveness,” Byron said. “(Lower-level teams) were not at the level I want to compete at.”

That competitiveness spills onto the next level.  According to Byron every member of his varsity high school baseball team played select baseball.

But Norris isn’t where the trend ends. Byron Hood is part of a phenomenon sweeping Nebraska and the nation – the growing trend of former select youth-level baseball players filling out a majority of roster spots on high school teams.

David Ogden is a youth baseball researcher and communications professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

He’s published papers on blacks in baseball, the diminishment of pickup baseball in the Midwest and the effects of select ball on college baseball teams.

In the last study Ogden made a discovery about the effects of select ball as high up as college baseball:  almost 90 percent of college baseball players surveyed played some sort of select ball before high school.

“These teams have become feeder programs,” Ogden said. “They’re becoming the pipeline for college and even the big leagues.”

If a kid isn’t playing select ball from as early an age as possible, he’s going to have a tough time playing high school baseball, according to Colby Hood.

Without training baseball players simply aren’t ready to play even junior varsity baseball.

“From a baseball perspective if you don’t do the select activities you won’t be prepared to play baseball in high school,” Colby Hood said.

Todd Sandberg, baseball coach at Lincoln High, faces a challenge. Half of his players never played select ball.
“We simply don’t have the numbers,” Sandberg said. “There isn’t competition at positions. If a catcher or shortstop is good and there isn’t anybody behind him to push him it’s hard to motivate him.”

And it’s not about the special treatment coaches give kids because their parent is so involved and has the coach’s ear. It’s not about money parents give to the program because it’s simply assumed every select baseball kid is rich. It’s not about the kid going to camps and getting to know the coach.

It’s about skill.

“Players that are non-select probably have had adequate coaching,” Sandberg said. “But, there just is not a lot of repetition compared to a select kid who plays even 50 games a year.”

Baseball is a sport that requires more learned skills than other sports, according to Jack Mayfield, executive director of baseballnebraska.com. Athleticism helps when a player is trying to leg out a hit when a third baseman snags a ball at the line. But it isn’t everything.

Mayfield’s website publicizes the play of high school baseball players and helps link them up with college recruiters and pro scouts, including players like Byron Hood.

“Unlike other sports like football where a gifted athlete can rely on his natural ability to simply outrun everybody on the field, baseball relies on some very specific learned skills,” Mayfield said.

“It’s all about hand-eye coordination. You need to be shown a correct way to do it and then you need to practice it over and over.”

That repetition comes from select ball.

Hood played for a regional all-star team, the Mac N Seitz Indians. That team played 19 games. When it was all said and done the 14-year-old kid, played 68 games at shortstop and pitcher.

That’s eight more than the average reported by Ogden. By comparison, the Nebraska Husker baseball team has 56 games scheduled for its regular season.

Due to rule changes involving bat standards, this season players have to buy new bats, and good ones run about $350, Sandberg said. Often he finds the program buying spikes and gloves for the kids. Baseball is the hardest sport to keep up with the cost in his opinion.

“Select baseball teams will be outfitted with fancy jackets, they’ll have more uniforms than us, they’ll have nice travel bags,” Sandberg said. “They look like a minor league team.”

But there are ways to combat the cost Colby Hood said.

The Dodgers cleans up iceboxes for the Lincoln Stars and work concessions for Nebraska basketball games. Select teams also hold fundraisers and sometimes wealthier parents will give out scholarships to poorer players to help families make it through the season.

“If it’s really necessary and the kid has talent,” Colby Hood said, “they can be scholarshipped.”

That money can come anywhere from within the organization or parents, Colby Hood said. But as for details about specific cases, those are rarely known because of an unspoken code amongst select baseball parents, Colby Hood said.
“It’s not really discussed amongst the group,” he said.

Money isn’t what is holding kids back, Ogden said.

“It’s one of the factors,” Ogden said. “But it’s not a major factor:  it’s not as big as people think. It’s all about time. It takes a lot of time to have a kid in select baseball.”

On average parents paid $918 per season for their sons to play select baseball in Ogden’s 2008 study titled “Theoretical Considerations in College Baseball’s Relationship with Youth Select Baseball ,” published in “The Journal of Sports Behavior.” And that figure covers everything from player fees to stays at the Holiday Inn.

But, the range of expenditures was between nothing -- many select teams have sponsors -- and $6,000 annually.

Another reason kids have problems playing select baseball has to do with where they live, rather than their parents’ income.

“Because of demographics and urban geography, urban kids don’t get chances like suburban kids do,” Ogden said.

Baseball fields are harder to come by in urban areas because there is less area to build parks.

Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities (RBI), a national program sponsored by Major League Baseball, gives inner city youth from ages 5-18 a chance to play baseball in a drug-free and safe environment.

And the organization offers inner city kids a chance to play 15 to 20 games a season according to Ogden.

But players like Hood are playing far more than that in a season. And it gives them a competitive advantage.

Tryouts can also earn players a spot on select squads. More talented players are more likely to get the nod from high-level clubs like the Dodgers.

The Hoods recall coaches coming to Junior Saltdogs League games asking about their son C.J. who will play for the Dodgers next season on the 9-and-under team.

And it’s a competitive atmosphere. Coaches are looking for players who will bring in wins, rather than ones who will have more fun losing.

“Everybody doesn’t get to play,” Colby Hood said. “From the perspective of a kid who is a low level roster kid, they’ll pay as much as a high-level roster kid. But they won’t get to play as much and they won’t get as many reps in practice.”

Select players are hard for Sandberg to come by, but when he does they often make the varsity team. More often than not a kid who would ride the bench at Lincoln Southeast, Lincoln Southwest or even Pius X could start for the Links.

“We are not a baseball factory,” Sandberg said. “We’re an inner city school, so it means I have to be active.”

So Sandberg and his staff have changed their mission over the years. Lincoln High used to be competing in the playoffs, but now things are totally different.

“It used to be ‘let’s make state every year,’” Sandberg said. “Now we just have to tell parents, ‘we’ll make your kid better at baseball.’ ”

Now there are simply different levels of high school baseball, and the Lincoln Highs of the world will always have a tough time competing with the Lincoln Southeasts and Southwests.

This spring while Byron Hood hopes to throw his second no-hitter in high school, Sandberg will be teaching a kid how to throw a fastball.

Rivalry games are expected to have a little drama – it comes with the territory – especially when the two teams have a history such as the one between the Skutt Skyhawks and the Ralston Rams.

This one didn’t disappoint as Skutt defeated Ralston, 6-5, Thursday night with the help of a game-tying grand slam off the bat of Colton Clark in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Former Skutt head coach Keith Engelkamp, who retired after last spring's Class B state runner-up finish following 16 years with the school, gave some insight on the long-standing rivalry between the two River Cities Conference foes:  “It's a healthy rivalry, but it was always a battle,” Engelkamp said in reference to his numerous match-ups with the Rams.  “Ralston, they’re fighters, they always leave it all on the field.”

Engelkamp talked about how strong the teams in the conference are and said of Class B teams that also play several Class A opponents, Ralston is always one of the best and will always provide a tough game.

“Sometimes you just have to be lucky, but it’s always nice to beat Ralston.”

The meeting between the two teams was the first of the season and came on Ralston's home turf, Orval Smith Field, in the semifinals of the annual Curt Shockey Ram Invitational named after the legendary former Rams coach against whom Engelkamp coached for many years.

After a scoreless first three innings, Ralston second baseman Steve Cassidy drew a walk to lead off the fourth, and back-to-back homeruns by senior Grant Kay and Junior JJ Benes allowed the Rams to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth.

The Rams tacked on two more in the fifth when senior Alex Buechler singled and Kay walked, and after they had moved up a base on a wild pitch and a stolen base, respectively, senior Jayden Crowley singled them both in to give Ralston a 5-0 lead.

After producing only one hit in the first five innings off Ralston starter Ryan Herdman, who had ten strikeouts in the game, Skutt showed its first signs of life in the sixth.

Walks to Skutt junior Zach Barton and catcher Colton Clark, along with a single by pinch-hitter Michael Meyers loaded the bases for the SkyHawks, and they scored their first run of the game when a single by junior Matt Warren brought Barton home.  Herdman ended the Skyhawk threat and the inning with a strikeout, but with a pitch count approaching the century-mark, his night came to an end with the Rams still  holding a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Facing a new pitcher, senior lefty Sean Erickson, in the bottom of the seventh, Skutt began the inning with back-to-back singles by lead-off hitter Thomas Christoffersen and Barton.  Senior Michael Zabawa loaded the bases when an inside pitch hit him, prompting another pitching change and setting the stage for Clark.

Senior righthander Chad Otte came to the mound to face Clark, and the game changed in an instant as Clark hit a game-tying grand slam to send it into extra innings and give Skutt a fighting chance.

“I thought one big hit would get something started for us,” Clark said.  “I came up and was looking for the big hit.”

Big hit may be an understatement as it completely changed the outcome of the game, and it seemed the pitching changes by Ralston gave the SkyHawks new life.

“We knew we were going to get a game with their guy Herdman throwing, he’s just a quality pitcher,” Skutt head coach Shawn Exner said. “They change pitchers and it gives us the momentum.”

Meanwhile, Skutt senior Luke Croonquist, who came on in relief of starter Jake Wiepen in the fourth, kept the Ralston offense in check.  The Rams weren’t able to put another run across the board after the fifth, allowing Skutt an opportunity for a comeback. 

Warren led off with a single in the bottom of the eighth for the Skyhawks, putting the potential game-winning run on base.  After a sac bunt and a sac fly to right, Warren stood at third with two outs and a chance to win the game.  An 0-2 breaking pitch in the dirt to Christoffersen got past catcher Zach Gerch, and Warren crossed the plate to complete the comeback and begin the celebration.

“These kids do not give up on each other,” Exner said.  “They may not be the most talent-loaded team, but they’re the most coachable.”

This game could be a preview of the District B-2 championship game if both teams win their first game of the tournament in which Skutt (11-4) is the No. 1 seed and Ralston (7-8) is the No. 2.

“There is no guarantee we both get by our first games,” Exner said of the potential re-match in districts. “But, it would create a pretty fun environment.”

Coach Exner also mirrored Engelkamp’s thoughts on the relationship of the two teams.

“There’s a mutual respect,” Exner said.  “But it’s also a pretty good rivalry.”

With the win Skutt advances to face Lincoln Southeast in the championship game Friday night at 7:00 at Orval Smith, and Ralston plays Archbishop Bergan in Friday's 4:30 third place game.

Crunching win-loss records and Wild Card Points compiled by the twenty-six Class A teams over the past three seasons leads to some pretty orderly results.  The teams fall neatly into four groupings having similar characteristics.

Crunching the results in Class B, however, is more like having the top fly off a blender, splattering the ingredients all over the kitchen wall.  There’s nothing neat or tidy about it (see chart below). 



Because of shifts in teams’ positions from the Wild Card ranking to the Win Percentage ranking – for example, Ralston ranks 10th in Wild Card Point average but comes in at #16 in Win Percentage – it’s hard to come up with very many meaningful conclusions from the numbers.

But, of course, that won’t stop us from trying.

The starting point, of course, is at the top.  Here we find the same seven teams leading both rankings:  Skutt, Elkhorn, Mount Michael, Gretna, Pius, Beatrice and Nebraska City.  Of those seven teams, six competed in the 2011 and 2009 state tournaments and five competed in the 2010 state tournament.  (Elkhorn was assigned to Class A in 2010.)

The position of these seven teams in the two ranking categories varies quite a bit with Skutt coming out on top in Wild Card Points (.43.188) and Gretna ranking highest in Winning Percentage (.709).  They each occupy fourth place in the other table. 

The most likely factor causing the deviation between the rankings in the two tables is the number of games against Class A competition played by each team.  Playing Class A teams is not a great way to improve one’s winning percentage but does provide a two-point bump in Wild Card Points for each game. 

Thus, teams such as Skutt, Elkhorn and Pius that play a schedule that is heavy in Class A competition rank higher in the WCP table than in the Win % table.  Teams that don’t play as many Class A teams, such as Gretna, Beatrice, Mount Michael and Nebraska City, are shifted the other direction – higher in Win % than WCP Avg.

That explanation probably also accounts for Ralston and Gross ranking much higher in WCP than in Win %.

In general, Class B teams that have been around a long time (i.e., since 2000 or earlier) tend to play a schedule that includes more Class A contests since many of their yearly pairings and tournament affiliations date back to a time when they had no other options.

Conversely, it’s harder for newer teams to schedule games against Class A teams since the dance cards of the upper-level teams were pretty full when the newcomers arrived at the party.

Another issue with the rankings is that they compare first-year teams that in some cases have as few as 10 games in their resume with established teams that have played 90 or more over the past three years. 

To eliminate some of these quirky factors, we’re going to slice and dice the 26 Class B teams into five groups based on how long they’ve been playing baseball and examine the standings within each group.  Such an approach helps identify the movers and shakers within these groupings.

Our first group we’ll label the “Legacy Group” – seven teams that have been around since before 2000.  This group consists of Elkhorn, Douglas County West (formerly Valley), Gross, Pius, Ralston, Roncalli and Skutt.

Once we isolate this group from the others … presto change-o … we now have consistency between the rankings in the WCP table and Win % table because most of these teams (except for DC West) play a comparable slate of Class A opponents.  The only deviation we have is a reversal of Ralston and Roncalli at #5 and #6, probably because Ralston plays a few more Class A opponents.


Skutt is the leader of this group in both WCP Avg. (43.188) and Win % (.622) over the past three years.  Elkhorn and Pius are a solid #2 and #3, respectively, after which the Win % dips below the .500 mark.  Gross and Ralston have been competitive in the post-season but their regular season numbers are not particularly glossy.

Roncalli has fallen from a 17-4 season (.810) in 2008 to 11-9 in 2009 to back-to-back 7-win seasons the past two years.  DC West has struggled to be competitive with a total of 14 wins over the past three years.

How does this group compare to the newer programs?  We haven’t gone through the brain damage of recalculating WCP Avg. and Win % for these teams against the 17 newer teams in Class B, but looking solely at post-season results, the answer would be “pretty good.”

Over the past three years the Legacy Group sent five teams to the state tournament in 2009, four in 2010 (when Elkhorn was in Class A), and four in 2011. So, for example, in 2010 and 2011, the teams in the Legacy Group claimed half of the eight berths in the state tournament while the other nineteen teams in the class duked it out for the remaining four slots. 

During our three-year analysis period, the Legacy Group has claimed the state crown twice (Gross in 2009 and 2010), has had the runner-up all three years (Pius in 2009, Skutt in 2010, Elkhorn in 2011), has had the third-place team once (Skutt in 2011) and the fourth place team once (Skutt in 2009).

But, as we shall see below, despite the big headstart that the Legacy teams have had in establishing their programs, several newcomers are now challenging their supremacy.

The rapid expansion of high school baseball that eventually led to the formation of Class B began in 2004 when Nebraska City and Beatrice added the sport.  Since that time, eighteen more teams have added baseball, including Plattsmouth for the 2012 season.  Class B was established as a separate classification in 2008 with only 16 teams.  For 2012 there will be 27 Class B teams, one more than in Class A.

Our second grouping of six teams includes the first wave of expansion that led to the formation of Class B:  Nebraska City, Beatrice, Gretna (2005), Wahoo (2005), Blair (2006) and Seward (2006).  No teams were added in 2007, so we’ll use 2006 as the end point for this group.  All six teams have now been playing high school baseball for at least five years.

Here is how the Group 2 teams stack up:


In this group, Gretna, Beatrice and Nebraska City have all excelled over the past three years.  In addition to posting the highest cumulative winning percentage in Class B over the past three years (.709) and the fourth-best Wild Card Point average (42.652), Gretna went undefeated (5-0) in the 2011 state tournament to claim its first title.  The Dragons finished third at state the previous two years and have compiled a 9-4 (.692) state tournament record over the last three seasons, second in Class B only to Gross (10-1).

Beatrice ranks third in Class B in win percentage on the basis of strong seasons in 2009 (16-8 with a state appearance) and 2011 (15-5, including a 1-2 record at state).  The Orangemen went 8-12 in 2010. 

Nebraska City went 19-9 with a state tournament appearance in 2009, followed by a 20-9 season with a fourth-place finish at state the next year.  Following the departure of a talented senior class in 2010 that included Logan Ehlers, the Pioneers missed qualifying for state in 2011, finishing 10-12. 

Blair reached state and posted its only winning season in 2008, the program’s third year.  After a 10-11 season in 2009, the Bears had the highest win total in their six-year history in 2010, going 15-11.  Blair slid to 6-13 in 2011 for a .470 winning percentage over the past three years. 

Seward doubled its win total in 2010 (from 5 to 10) to post the school’s best-ever season (10-11) but fell one win short of the .500 mark that year and again last year (8-9) for a .411 three-year average.  The Bluejays will aim for their first winning season in 2012 under new head coach Brock Anderson. 

Wahoo, which hasn’t had a winning season since the program went 9-8 in its first year, will get a boost in 2012 from the addition of Lincoln Lutheran to the Wahoo-Raymond Central co-op after finishing 6-16 last year. 

Our third group, consisting of South Sioux City (2008), Norris (2008), Crete (2008), Waverly (2009) and Platte Valley (2009), has produced some high quality teams in a very short time span. 


After going 4-12 in its inaugural season, South Sioux has had three consecutive winning seasons, averaging more than a dozen wins per year while frequently appearing in the Top Ten rankings.   The Cardinals reached state in their third season (2010), picking up the program’s first-ever state tourney win before being eliminated, and were one win away from state last spring. 

Like South Sioux, classmate Norris has made quick strides.  Norris exceeded the .500 mark in its third season with a 12-9 record in 2010, and reached state in year four last spring.  The Titans posted a 17-10 mark in 2011 to raise their win total over the past three years to 36, an average of 12 per year.  Norris also became a regular in the Top Ten rankings last spring, ending the season at #7.

Third-year program Waverly broke the .500 mark for the first time last season in a big way with a 14-7 campaign and fell just short of earning a Wild Card berth at state.  The Vikings finished the season ranked #9 in Class B. 

Crete has lagged behind 2008 classmates South Sioux and Norris, winning just over a third of its games over the past three years (20-38.345).  After back-to-back seven-win seasons by the Cardinals, new head coach Jeremy Fries will be looking to take Crete higher up the wins ladder in 2012.

Third-year program Platte Valley (21-36, .368) will also have a new coach in 2012, Gary Hollst, who’ll be looking to lead the three-school co-op to a more competitive record following a 6-10 finish last year. 

Our fourth group consists of four programs that began play in 2010:  Mount Michael Benedictine, Bennington, Pender / Bancroft-Rosalie and Arlington.


What Mount Michael has accomplished in its first two years of high school baseball is remarkable:  a .700+ winning record, a district tournament championship, back-to-back state tournament appearances, two wins and a fourth place finish at state in 2011 and back-to-back Top Ten finishes (#7 in 2010 and #5 in 2011).   It’s highly unlikely that any other team in the modern era of Nebraska high school baseball has accomplished as much in its first two year seasons. 

In our overall cumulative three-year rankings, Mount Michael (.707) comes in second behind Gretna in Win % and third in WCP Avg. (42.657) behind Skutt and Elkhorn. 

The other members of the Class of 2010 have had a successful entry into high school baseball, if not as splashy as Mount Michael’s.

Bennington got off to a very solid start in 2010, finishing with an 11-11 record, but slid backwards last year to a 5-14 finish. 

Pender / Bancroft-Rosalie has made progress, improving to 7-10 in 2011 after going 4-13 in the program’s first season.  The Pendragons will be bolstered this year by the addition of West Point – Beemer to their co-op, a move that more than doubles the student population from which talent will be drawn.

After a winless first season (0-18), Arlington progressed to 4-8 in 2011. 

In our final group, the Class of 2011, Elkhorn South ranks first in WCP Avg. (38.920) on the basis of a challenging schedule and finishes second to Guardian Angels Central Catholic (formerly West Point Central Catholic) in Win %.  The Storm pulled off an upset of Mount Michael during the regular season and shocked Waverly in the opening round of districts to claim the program’s first post-season win.


The three-school co-op made up of Guardian Angels Central Catholic, Dodge and Scribner-Snyder made the most of its eleven-game regular schedule despite two game being lost to bad weather.  The result was a 6-3 record before a season-ending first-round district tournament loss to Crete by a score of 2-1.  That’s certainly a good start for a new program and will keep spirits high going into the 2012 season.

Wayne started off its inaugural season with two straight wins before dropping their next nine.  The Blue Devils rallied to win their regular season finale and also played eventual state runner-up Elkhorn tough in districts where their season ended with a 3-0 loss to the #1 seed.  New head coach Adam Hoffman will build on that strong finish as he leads Wayne into its second season.

New head coach Roy Prauner will try to get Fort Calhoun off the schneid after the Pioneers went 0-16 in their first season.  Offense is likely to be Prauner’s first priority as the Pioneers were shut out in seven of those losses. 

So, now that we’ve broken Class B into five groups based on how long each has been playing spring ball, what does it all mean?

The basic storyline is that, unlike the settled landscape of Class A, Class B is the Wild, Wild West.  The old established settlers and early pioneers better be on the lookout for new waves of gunslingers and claim jumpers who are bullying their way into the territory. 

It should also be noted that recent legislative changes favor the newcomers.  In 2011, the NSAA expanded the number of Class B districts from four to six.  Prior to that, four district champions and four Wild Card teams advanced to state.  Now, the stockpile of Class A bonus points earned by the Legacy Group is no longer as helpful in getting a berth at state.  More of those old-timers will now have to shoot it out in the District Tournament Corral with the young guns -- and could possibly end up on Boot Hill.

Millard West came out with the upper hand in a crosstown rivalry game against Millard South as they beat the Patriots 3-2 at home Thursday night.

It was the second loss in as many days for the second-ranked Patriots (19-3) who fell to Elkhorn, 7-4, Wednesday evening after knocking off top-ranked Papillion-LaVista South in Monday's Metro Tournament championship. 

The win was much needed for the #4 Wildcats (16-5), who were looking to get back on track against top-caliber teams after losses in the past two weeks to Papio South, Lincoln Southeast and Lincoln Southwest.

“We’ve played a very good schedule, which is good for us,” Head coach Frank Ryan said.  “You want to be challenged, and we have to battle because nobody is going to just give us anything.”

Coach Ryan knew it wasn’t a matter of talent that was holding his team back after its recent losses.

“We met and talked a lot,” said Ryan about his team regaining its focus.  “I don’t know how much good it did, but we did a lot of talking.”

The Wildcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first after a pair of costly Millard South errors put seniors Andrew Dergan and Alex Jensen aboard.  Senior Adam Morey laid down a bunt advancing both runners into scoring position, allowing Dergan to come home on a fielder’s choice slow roller to first and Jensen to score on a single to right by catcher Andrew Nelson.

Millard West tacked on another run in the bottom of the second after junior Marcus Ethen doubled, advanced to third on a sac bunt by Jensen and scored when Morey hit a sacrifice fly to center making it 3-0 Wildcats.

The Patriots answered in the top of the third when back-to-back singles by senior Jake Simmons and junior Dan Regan provided a spark to start the inning.  Simmons was able to score from second on an errant throw on Reagan Flower's sac bunt as Regan advanced to third on the miscue.  The score was cut to 3-2 when senior Blake Headley hit one deep enough to the outfield to allow Regan to score on a sacrifice fly, but Wildcat pitcher A.J. Ladwig ended the rally with a strikeout to get out of the inning.

That was all the Patriots' offense was able to muster off Ladwig, a returning All-Nebraska first-teamer and a unanimous All-Metro selection last year.  The Wichita State recruit went the distance and would have faced the minimum the rest of the way if not for an error in the fifth, striking out seven and giving up only four hits en route to his fifth win of the season.  The 6'5" right-hander's only loss of the season came on opening day against Creighton Prep.

With Ladwig not being able to go all seven innings much this year due to weather or his team having such a comfortable lead, Coach Ryan said it was nice to see his pitcher grind it out after the Patriots put a couple runs on the board in the third.

“He really got into a better rhythm the last couple innings,” Coach Ryan said.  “He’s our best guy, and we needed that out of him.”

The Wildcats look to keep the ball rolling as they head to the 23rd Annual Monarchs Invite this weekend while Millard South hopes to bounce back as they travel to Lincoln to play in the Spartan Invite.