FREDONIA — The Humboldt High baseball team never trailed in their doubleheader sweep at Fredonia Thursday afternoon. Game one’s success was due to pitching while the Cubs’ bats came alive in the second game.
A pair of Cub pitchers, Logan Page and Kyler Isbell, allowed Humboldt to jump on top early in the fourth inning of a 3-2 game one victory and in the first inning of an 8-3 game two win. Page and Isbell tossed a combined 13 innings and allowed only four runs.
Game one
Page kept Fredonia scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning before the Yellowjackets plated their second run in the bottom of the seventh. The Cubs secured the victory in the seventh when they scored a pair of runs.
“Logan did a great job mixing pitches and keeping their hitters off balance,” said Humboldt head coach Mike Miller. “Our defense played really well behind him too. We only put up three runs but we really had some tough luck with hard-hit balls right at their defense.”
Jacob Harrington, Sam Hull and Blake Ellis drove in the trio of runs while Hull and Ellis each led with a team-high two hits.
Fredonia got on the board behind the bats of Keegan Bryant and Ashton O’Neal in the fourth and seventh innings. Aidan Chard, O’Neal and Bryant each collected two hits.
Page pitched all seven innings, allowing only two runs, one unearned, on seven hits. He struck out 11 Yellowjackets. Joel Dutton pitched all seven innings for Fredonia, allowing three runs on nine hits.
Game two
Humboldt scratched two runs in the top of the first inning before bringing across two more runs each in the third and fourth innings and another couple of runs in the sixth and seventh innings for an 8-3 victory.
Game two was a more explosive performance at the plate for the Cubs. Colden Cook and Brody Gunderman each drove in a pair of runs. Hull, Page, Cook and Harrington all had multi-hit games.
“We finally got some balls to drop in the second game and took advantage of some errors to maintain a comfortable lead throughout,” Miller said. “Kyler struggled with his command early but really settled in late and held their offense down.”
Isbell was stellar on the mound for the Cubs after he tossed six innings, allowing only two runs on five hits and striking out five in the process. Hull pitched the seventh inning, allowing only one run on one hit and striking out two of the three outs he recorded.
The Yellowjackets had trouble swarming Humboldt’s pitcher Isbell. Braxton Chaplin and Bryant had two hits apiece and Chard and Chaplin each drove in a run.
Humboldt travels to Eureka on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
