Seneca Baseball goes 2-1
By Derick Kelly
The Seneca Royals baseball team began last week with a convincing 27-0 victory in four innings over host La Farge last Tuesday, April 8. The Royals’ offense was on fire from the start as they scored 12 runs in the first inning. They added nine more runs in the second and six runs in the fourth inning.
With their offense scoring 27 runs on 21 hits, Seneca’s offensive attack was led by Dawson Davidson (4-for-4 with two doubles, two walks, five runs scored and four RBIs), Gage Wall (4-for-5 with a double, one walk, four runs scored and three RBIs), Hunter Hagensick (3-for-3 with two walks, three runs scored and three RBIs), Jackson Konichek (2-for-3 with a triple, two walks, two runs scored and 6 RBIs) and Sawyer Swiggum (2-for-2 with two runs scored and 2 RBIs). Kaden Roberts started on the mound for Seneca and earned the win after allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out four in a complete game shutout.
The Royals returned home the following night to host Weston in a Ridge & Valley Conference showdown and the visiting Silver Eagles came away with a hard fought 2-1 win. Unlike the previous night for Seneca, offense was hard to come by in this game especially the longer the game went on.
Weston scored twice in the top of the first before Seneca answered with one run of their own in the bottom of the first. Seneca collected four hits in the loss, singles by Owen Oppriecht, Briar Wall, Swiggum and Hagensick. Oppriecht scored the Royals only run of the game while Hagensick had the team’s only RBI.
Davidson was the Royals starting pitcher and suffered the hard luck loss after allowing just two runs (both earned) on eight hits and two walks in six innings pitched while striking out seven. Jack Gallagher pitched the final inning in relief, allowing no hits, runs or walks while striking out one.
The Royals wrapped up their week last Friday when they traveled to Highland for another non-conference game as they handed the host Cardinals a 10-3 defeat. Seneca got things started quickly with three runs in the top of the first inning before Highland answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning. Seneca would extend their lead to 5-2 with a run in each of the third and fourth innings before the Cardinals made it a 5-3 game with a run in the bottom of the fifth. That would be as close as they would get as the Royals scored five times in the top of the sixth inning to make the score 10-3, which would hold up the rest of the game.
Seneca’s offense smacked four home runs in the win - Oppriecht, Swiggum and two by Gage Wall, who led the Royals offense by going 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs, three runs and four RBIs. Swiggum was 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs. Konichek also had a double in the game. Jack Gallagher pitched a complete game, allowing three runs (2 earned) on eight hits and zero walks while striking out five to earn the win.
The Royals improved to 3-2 on the season and returned home for three games this week. Seneca hosted Kickapoo this past Monday and Lancaster last night before ending the week with De Soto tomorrow night.
