Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

Monday night’s WeBo baseball game against Seeger went exactly how you expect a season opener to go – plenty of good, some things to work on, and more importantly, ended in a win for the host Stars. WeBo saw a six-run lead cut to one in the final inning but held on for a 7-6 win over the Patriots. “There was so much good stuff, and maybe a few bad things that looked glaring in the moment, but I’m really happy with how we started today,” Western Boone head coach Michael Nance said. The pitching is what stood out to Nance the most in the game. Senior Jackson Long got the start and pitched 3.1 innings, allowing one run on one hit while striking out two. Levi Stewart battled through the middle innings before Owen Oakley and Easton Nance shut the door late to seal the win. “I can’t say enough about Jackson Long and the way he threw the ball,” Nance said. “He worked really hard this offseason, deserved that start and then came out and executed. Levi came in behind him, Owen Oakley got a big out, and then Easton slams the door at the end. We did a really good job of pitching the ball.” Down 1-0, the Stars tied the game when Owen Howe lined a single to the pitcher and Luke Shirley scored on an error. The Stars took the lead in the third, loading the bases with two outs and scoring two runs on wild pitches. In the fourth, WeBo loaded the bases with one out for Quinn Westerfeld, who tripled to right, then scored on an Easton Nance ground out to make it 7-1. WeBo had just four hits in the game, but walked seven times. “We had some good approaches, but I am probably most disappointed in our hitting, especially some strikeouts looking with guys in scoring position,” Nance said. “Quinn banged that ball off the fence to plate three and that gave us a boost, but we will be better offensively.” Seeger rallied for four runs in the fifth, taking advantage of some soft contact that found holes and were able to execute their running game with guys on base. The Stars had three errors in the game, two coming in that inning. “There were a couple plays I didn’t like, but for the most part, I was happy with the defense,” Nance said. “That’s just the way the ball bounces sometimes. We weren’t giving up hard contact and didn’t walk a lot of guys, so I am happy with the way the pitchers threw the ball.” Seeger put the tying run on third in the sixth, but Oakley got a pop up to get out of the threat. The Patriots loaded the bases with one out in the seventh on an error and two infield singles. After a ground out scored one run, Nance got a strike out to end the game and earn the save. The turnaround is short now for Western Boone as they host Cascade in their Monon Athletic Conference opener on Tuesday night. “We just talked about it in the huddle, we are going to take the good things we did and carry that into tomorrow,” Nance said. “Our defense looks pretty good, offensively we will be a little different with how we set up, but we are going to give Quinn the ball, and I feel good about it.”