YATES CENTER – The Yates Center High School baseball team combined a high-octane offense with solid pitching and defense to sweep the St. Paul Indians in a Three Rivers League doubleheader played here Monday.
The Wildcats defeated St. Paul 12-2 in the first game and followed that performance with a 12-5 victory in the nightcap.
The pair of victories snapped a four-game losing streak for the Yates Center squad and improved their record to 4-6 on the year. The Wildcats hit the road on Thursday, traveling to Mound City to face Jayhawk-Linn in another TRL twinbill.
"I'm proud of the team. The guys have been putting in hard work every day and the growth and progress on and off the field is starting to pay off," said YCHS head coach Jarrod McVey. "I was happy with the progress our pitchers made, and thought overall in both games we played pretty well defensively, limiting mistakes. Offensively, the guys are getting better each week. We’re definitely headed in the right direction.”
In the opener, Yates Center scored early and often. After St. Paul took a short-lived 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Wildcats plated four runs in the bottom of the frame, then added three more in each of the next two innings to lead 10-2 after three. The ’Cats scored two more times in the fourth while blanking the Indians the rest of the way for the run-rule victory.
Blake Morrison and William Stackhouse shared pitching duties for YCHS, limiting St. Paul to just two runs on five hits.
“Blake and Will both did a great job on the mound for us in Game One,” McVey noted.
Stackhouse also led the Wildcats at the plate, ripping two hits and driving in three runs. Evan McVey, Tristan Ballin, Kage Beck and Morrison scored two runs apiece for the winners, with Morrison collecting two RBI.
In the nightcap, Yates Center led just 1-0 until breaking things open with six runs in the bottom of the third inning. The Indians were able to cut the deficit to 10-5 before the Wildcats added a pair of runs in the sixth to complete the scoring.
“Evan came out and had a solid start for us in Game Two, and Tristan and Jacob (Meigs) did a good job in relief to finish the game off," McVey noted.
McVey also collected two hits for the victors, while Stackhouse, Meigs, Beck, Morrison, and Garrison Brittain notched one hit each. Ballin had four stolen bases and plated three runs for YCHS, while Stackhouse and Kaiden Rutherford scored two apiece.
“Some guys are starting to step up at the plate and I'm excited to get back on the diamond Thursday against Jayhawk-Linn," McVey declared.