Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Friday, May 16, 2008
Offense, Vaaler lift baseball to first victory
Holmen High School's baseball team pounded out 15 hits, while Jordan Vaaler allowed one run in six innings of work, as Holmen earned its first win of the season Monday, a 9-1 decision over Tomah.
Holmen (1-12, 1-8) had five hits in each of the first two innings, pulling out to a 6-0 lead. Ross Jenks and Ben Squier had three hits each for the Vikings, while Trey Candahl, Vaaler, Corey Jessessky and Shane Peterson all added two hits each.
“We have spent more time on hitting lately,” HHS head coach Duane Vike, who got his first high school win since coaching at Arcadia in 1986, said. “But the biggest thing is we finally weren't facing a guy like (Logan's) Austin Lubinsky or (Central's) Luke Warren tonight.”
Jarrod Bock drove in four runs on two sacrifice flies and a two-run insurance double in the bottom of the sixth. The left-handed hitting Peterson, hitting in the No. 8 spot, lead off the third with a double to the fence in left-field and scored. Squier is a key addition to Holmen's lineup on both offense and defense after tweaking a hamstring, which forced him into being a designated hitter during Saturday's 13-9 and 12-8 doubleheader loss to Beaver Dam.
“Ben has helped our lineup a lot,” Vike said. “Shane got more pitches to hit with us moving him down in the order.”
Candahl, hitting second, saw his average over the Vikings last three games drop Monday, as he was seven-of-nine in Saturday's twinbill. Candahl is a sophomore who did not begin the season with the varsity.
“He made all the plays at shortstop today, too,” Vike said. “He's been the victim of some tough errors, but he's hitting very nicely.”
HHS also appears to be correcting an early-season bugaboo of striking out too often. Holmen struck out more than 10 times per game through four games, but struck out just four times Monday.
The only run Vaaler allowed came on a wild pitch. Vaaler could not go the distance after finishing an inning in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader (high school pitchers are limited to seven innings in any three-day period), so Jenks finished with a scoreless seventh.
The Vikings totaled 27 hits Saturday, but couldn't break its season-long snide. HHS had more hits in game one, 15, but had the better chance to win in game two, leading 8-5 with one out and nobody on base in the sixth. But the Golden Beavers scored six runs to take an 11-8 lead.
Holmen contributed to the rally with two 1-out walks, a one-out error and a botched rundown with one out that allowed the tying runs to score. Beaver Dam followed with a pinch-hit single to take the lead and capped the flurry with a two-run home run.
“They're a nice ball club,” Vike said. “They hit the ball very nicely.”
Jessessky allowed five hits in the first 5 1/3 innings, but also allowed four walks, before giving way to Vaaler and Dominic Lenz. The Vikings used Peterson, Zach Mally, Matt Price and Robby Burge on the hill in game two. Price allowed two hits in his three innings of work, but also allowed four walks.
Candahl, Squier, Jenks and Bock all had two or more hits in game one. Jenks, Candahl and Jay Merfeld all had two or more hits in game two.
The Beaver Dam Daily Citizen contributed to this article.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.