Big hits get Wave by Wahoo in home tournament (2024)

WAVERLY- In baseball, it’s not always about how many hits you get, but what you can do with them. The Wave Juniors proved just that in a 3-2 win over the Wahoo Medicine Man Juniors on June 29 in the Wahoo/Ashland Tournament at home.

In the contest, Waverly got two big hits that produced all three runs for them.

The first of those hits came in the bottom of the first with runners on first and second and one out. On a 1-1 count, Colt Kerchal smashed a double to right field.

Both Jace Kroger and Crew Verkamp got great jumps and were able to beat the ball home. Kerchal tried to extend his hit into a triple but was tagged out by Wahoo’s third baseman Alex Barry.

It remained a 2-0 lead for the Wave up until the bottom of the fourth when Verkamp laced a hard hit to right field. The Blues had trouble getting the ball into the infield and as a result, Verkamp slid home safely for an inside the park homer.

After giving up the home run, Wahoo got off to a good start in the fifth by getting their first two base runners on. They both scored on a groundout and then a single that pulled the Blues back within one of Waverly.

In their final two at-bats, Wahoo would get two runners on base both times. The Wave did a good job of holding strong and worked out of both jams to win the game.

Finishing with one hit and two RBIs was Kerchal while Verkamp racked up two hits and had one run batted in.

Maddox Hasenkamp had a masterful performance on the mound and pitched four innings, gave up two earned runs, and struck out eight batters. Carsen Malcolm pitched three innings in relief, and surrendered no runs and set down five batters on strikes.

On June 29, the Wave kicked off the tournament with another close call against Gretna. Behind a nine-hit performance, they were able to defeat the Dragons 7-6.

Both Waverly and Gretna scored four runs in the third and two runs in the sixth. The difference was the Wave also tacked on one run in the second which gave them a 1-0 lead early on.

Getting one hit and driving in two runs for Waverly was Verkamp. Trevor Roesler, Hasenkamp, Kerchal, and Kroger all had at least one hit and one RBI.

Picking up the win on the mound was Roesler. He pitched five innings, gave up four earned runs, and retired seven batters on strikes.

Malcolm earned the save by pitching one inning, giving up no earned runs, and striking out two batters.

To close out the tournament, the Wave earned a 9-0 shutout against Overton on June 30. Behind the use of four pitchers, Waverly limited the Bandits to just one hit.

The Wave started the game out strong with four runs in the bottom of the first. They followed that up with one run in the second and then another four spot in the fourth.

Caleb Rine led the way offensively with two hits and four RBIs while Brody Crook came through with one hit and two runs batted in. All driving in one run were Hasenkamp, Braxton Culver, and Brett Ratkovec.

Pitching one inning of shutout baseball for Waverly to start the game was Kroger. Kroese came on for 1.1 innings and struck out three batters while Rine pitched 2.1 innings and set down four batters on strikes.

Going 0.1 innings on the mound and getting one strikeout was Ratkovec.

The only loss of the tournament for the Wave came in their second game on June 29 against the ETC Knights Juniors. A five-run first inning helped the Knights lead Waverly from start to finish in a 7-4 victory.

Both getting one hit and one RBI for the Wave in the loss were Owen Glassburner and Beau Wilken. Verkamp pitched all seven innings and gave up four earned runs with six strikeouts.

Waverly took part in the Eastern Nebraska Baseball League Tournament this week. Their first game was at Wahoo on July 2.