***Dillon Price is a participant of The Kewanee Voice Student Journalism Program, funded by the Harry Anderson Memorial Trust.
The varsity baseball team opened their season against St. Bede and lost 3-0 on Tuesday, March 18.
Junior Logan Peed took the mound for the Boilers, throwing five strikeouts while only allowing two hits and giving up one unearned run. Unfortunately, the Boilers failed to get their bats going, only managing one hit from the bat of senior Lincoln Mason.
Senior Colson Welgat took the mound in relief, throwing two strikeouts while giving up one hit with two unearned runs.
On Friday, March 21, the Kewanee JV team hosted Monmouth United and lost 2-7. Sophomore Isaiah Ince took the mound for the Boilers, throwing for four and two-thirds innings, striking out four and surrendering two earned runs on five hits.
Offensively, Kewanee managed seven hits: three from Ince with two doubles while driving in two runs, two out of three for sophomore Damien Taylor at the dish and two for three for sophomore Jackson Price while scoring Kewanee’s two runs.
The Varsity Boilermakers traveled to Jacksonville for two games against Genoa-Kingston and PORTA. Kewanee faced Genoa-Kingston on Friday night, March 21, where they got their first win of the season by a score of 9-1.
Senior Landon Sheets took the mound for the Boilers, threw for six innings, and only allowed one run on one hit while striking out seven. Kewanee was firing on all cylinders offensively, totaling 10 hits and 12 stolen bases en route to their nine runs.
The Boilers were led by freshman Ace LaFollette with three hits on the day. Dillon Price closed in the seventh inning, where Genoa-Kingston went three up three down on groundouts.
On Saturday, the Boilers were back in action as they faced the PORTA BlueJays and lost 1-6. Welgat started on the bump for Kewanee, throwing three innings allowing two hits, one earned run, and two unearned runs with seven strikeouts.
Mason threw three innings in relief, allowing four hits and three unearned runs with two strikeouts.
Senior Ben Taylor led the Boiler offense, going three for three on the day while LaFollette knocked in the lone Boiler run on a double. Kewanee’s five errors and seven men left on base proved costly in a game closer than the scoreboard suggests. The Boilers are now 1-2 on the year.
Both squads are slated to play four more games this week. On Monday, the varsity team will travel to Sterling and the fresh-soph team will host the Sterling JV team at Northeast Park. Both games will start at 4:30 p.m.
The following day, the varsity team will play at home, hosting Princeville, while the JV team travels to LaSalle-Peru, with both games beginning at 4:30 p.m.
On Thursday, the Boilers will travel together to AlWood. The varsity first pitch will be at 4:30 p.m., and the fresh-soph game will follow.
Finally, both teams will end the week at Northeast Park on Saturday. The JV squad will face St. Bede at 10 a.m., and the varsity team will face Stark County at 1 p.m.
