***Dillon Price is a participant of The Kewanee Voice Student Journalism Program, funded by the Harry Anderson Memorial Trust.
The Boilers got their week started in Knoxville on Tuesday, April 8, after Monday’s game was postponed. The Boilers defeated the Blue Bullets 18-11.
Senior Dillon Price took the bump for Kewanee and surrendered three earned runs and eight total runs in the first inning on four hits due to three walks and four errors from Kewanee.
Luckily, the Boilers were firing on offense, scoring two or more runs in all but two innings.
Senior Colson Welgat led the offense, going three for four at the plate with two doubles, a walk, three RBIs, and five runs. Junior Logan Peed went two for three at the plate with a walk, an RBI and four runs scored, and senior Landon Sheets went two for four with a walk, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Junior Griffin Hicks took the mound for the second inning and allowed two earned runs on five hits through three innings. Then, senior Lincoln Mason took over for the final three innings, allowing zero runs on only two hits while striking out one batter.
Kewanee hosted the first game of the two-game series against Erie-Prophetstown on Thursday, April 10. Peed took the mound for the Boilers, throwing three and two-thirds, allowing two runs, zero earned, on three hits while striking out four.
The Kewanee offense got off to a good start, scoring in each of the first three innings to take a 4-2 lead into the fourth. The offense was led by Peed, with two hits and a walk on four plate appearances.
Welgat took the bump in relief, throwing 3 1/3 innings while allowing three earned runs on one hit in the top of the fifth. He also struck out four batters on the day.
The Boiler offense was unable to get a run on the board in the final four innings despite leaving 10 men on base.
The second game of the series was the following day in Erie-Prophetstown, and the Boilers fell short by a score of 9-3. Sheets started on the mound for the Boilermakers, allowing two earned runs and eight total runs on six hits through 3 2/3 innings while striking out six.
The Kewanee offense couldn’t get anything going until the top of the seventh, where they put up three runs and ended the game with the bases loaded.
The lone hits on the day came from Welgat and Peed.
Senior Brady Shiltz got one out in relief for Sheets before Mason came in for the fifth inning. Mason threw for two innings, allowing one unearned run on zero hits.
The JV team also played two games against Erie Prophetstown. Thursday in EP, the Boilers lost 11-1. The loss fueled the Riveters to bounce back stronger the next day at home, where they hosted EP and won 15-8.
Isaiah Ince took the mound for Kewanee and threw five innings, allowing only two runs. Sophomore Jackson Price led the offense with five RBIs.
Both teams play the same schedule this week at flipped locations for every game.
On Monday, the varsity team will travel to Hall while the JV team hosts the Red Devil JV team.
On Tuesday, the varsity team will travel to BV while the Jv team hosts the JV Storm.
Thursday will serve as the second leg of the Hall series, where varsity will be home and JV will be on the road. To end the week, the varsity team will host Orion while JV travels to Orion.
All games will be set to start at 4:30 p.m.
