RICHMOND — Crest High’s postseason journey began as expected Monday.
With a pair of young Lancer pitchers, freshman Kaden Nilges and sophomore Ryan Golden, limited Marais Des Cygnes Valley to two hits, Crest broke things open with five-run outbursts in both the second and third innings.
By the time Golden struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth, Crest had secured a 14-3 win over Marais Des Cygnes Valley to open the Class 2-1A Regional Tournament.
With the win, the Lancers (21-0) advance to Wednesday’s semifinals — pushed back a day because of the threat of rain — against fifth seed and tournament host Central Heights. First pitch is at 2 p.m.
A win there would put Crest in the regional title game later that evening, against either Southern Lyon County (17-2) or Jayhawk-Linn (15-4).
Despite the lopsided win, Crest head coach Roland Weir saw room for improvement.
“We started out really slowly,” he said. “We hit the ball OK, but defensively, we have to pick it up. We can’t make these errors.”
The Lancers committed two errors, which contributed to a MDCV rally that briefly gave the Trojans a 3-2 lead in the second inning.
Crest’s Karter Miller and Trevor Church each drove in runs with infield singles to give Crest its first lead of the game, 4-3. A wild pitch brought in the fifth run, and Golden’s RBI grounder and a base-loaded walk to Rogan Weir made it 7-3.
By then, Nilges had settled down on the mound, retiring the Trojans in order in the third.
Golden had an RBI single, Stetson Setter’s base hit drove in two more, and Jack White made it 11-3 with a run-scoring grounder.White and Golden added RBI singles in the fourth to cap the scoring.
Golden — who had yet to pitch a varsity game this season — came on in the fourth, and proceeded to pitch two scoreless, hitless innings, striking out six with a walk.
“I thought I did OK, for my first start in the playoffs,” Nilges said. “I just got the nerves out of my head, bared down and threw strikes.”
“I’ve been begging (Coach Weir) all season to let me pitch,” Golden added. “I was pretty happy with my first time pitching.”
Having those two pick up the slack should prove invaluable to the Lancers, who were able to rest their frontline pitchers, Church and Setter, for the semifinal and final rounds.
“Overall, I’m pleased,” Weir said, “but not satisfied.”
