BURTON BASEBALL OPENS DISTRICT PLAY WITH AN 11-1 WIN OVER IOLA

The Burton Panther Baseball Team opened up District 26-2A play this (Tuesday) afternoon with a convincing 11-1 win over the Iola Bulldogs.

Tyler Witt turned in another solid outing on the mound to pick up the win. Over five innings pitched, he allowed three hits, one run, walked two, and struck out five batters.

Iola scored the initial run of the game in the top of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead.

Witt led off the bottom of the first inning with a double. Logun Tosta reached on an error that also allowed Witt to come around third base and score. That tied the game at 1-1.

Burton jumped in front with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. With two outs in the frame, Matthew Roemer, Coy Gurka, and Witt drew three straight walks to load the bases. Then, Tosta and Braydon Martin drew bases loaded walks to score Roemer and Gurka respectively to give Burton a 3-1 lead.

In the third inning, the Panthers tacked on two more runs. Ryder Biggs drew a walk, and later stole second. Eli Jaeger would then single him home. Jaeger would score as well in the inning on an RBI single by Witt. That gave Burton a 5-1 advantage.

The biggest inning for the Panthers came in the bottom of the fourth when they scored five runs. Martin led it off with a single, and Carter Prigge was brought in to run for him. Rueben Rodriguez drew a walk. Biggs laid down a bunt, and he then made it to first on an error by the pitcher. The error also allowed Prigge to score. Jaeger was intentionally walked to load the bases. Isaac Matthies singled home Rodriguez, Roemer drew a bases loaded walk to score Biggs, and Gurka reached on an error to score Jaeger. Two-batters later Tosta drew another bases loaded walk to score Matthies. That gave the Panthers a 10-1 lead.

Burton got the run they needed to enforce the mercy rule in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jaeger singled, went to third on an error, and scored the 11th run on a passed ball.

With the win, the Panthers improve to 11-2 overall and 1-0 in district. These same two teams will face off again tomorrow (Wednesday) in Iola at 1pm.

HITTING

Tyler Witt 2-3 single, double, walk, run, RBI

Eli Jaeger 2-3 two singles, walk, three runs, RBI

Issac Matthies 2-3 two singles, run, RBI

Braydon Martin 1-3 single, walk, RBI

PITCHING

WP Tyler Witt 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's