Team heads to Regionals for matchup with the Huskies of Benzie The White Cloud Indians traveled to Hart on Saturday for District Baseball. The Indians took on the Hart Pirates in the 2nd semi-final game at noon. After holding the Pirates scoreless in their half of the 1st inning, the Indians went to work with KJ Strait leading off for the Indians with a single. Alex Cruzan was then hit by a pitch, which moved Strait to 2nd base, where he promptly stole 3rd base and scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the game and a 1-0 lead for the Indians. With White Cloud up to bat with 2 outs in the 2nd inning, the weather changed and thunder and lightning came in, so the game was delayed for around 2 1/2 hours before play resumed. The 2nd inning ended with the Indians stranding 2 runners on base. The Pirates collected a lead off double to start the 3rd inning, and the next batter was hit by a pitch to put 2 runners on base, but an infield pop fly and a ground out ended the Pirates threat. The Indians would plate 2 more runs in their half of the 3rd inning, after the first 2 batters reached base on errors, Landyn McGowen drove them in with a double down the left field line, for a 3-0 score. Hart went down in order in the 4th inning. White Cloud plated another run in the 4th inning, as Strait led off with a single, Mason Ruether followed that with another single, and Alex Cruzan drove Strait home with a ground out, for a 4-0 lead, at the end of 4 innings. Hart went down on 3 straight strikeouts, in the 5th inning. White Cloud started off the 5th inning with a single by Reece Hewitt, followed by a walk to McGowen, and another single by Jacob Francis to load the bases. Jayden Robinson drove a run in with a fielder's choice, Strait got on base via an error to drive in a run, and Mason Ruether drove another run with a sacrifice fly, for a 7-0 lead at the end of 5 innings. Alex Cruzan came into the game to pitch in the 6th inning, and shut the Pirates down in order. The Indians finished off the Pirates in the 6th inning as the first 2 batters reached base on errors, followed by a walk to Robinson, before all three runners were driven in on a double by Strait, for the 10-0 win. Mason Ruether started on the hill for the Inidians, going 5 innings, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, and no runs allowed. Leading the offense for the Indians were Strait with 4 hits, 2 runs scored and 4 RBI's, Landyn McGowen with a double and 2 RBI's, with Francis, Ruether, and Hewitt each contributing a hit a piece. In the Finals, White Cloud took on the Shelby Tigers, who defeated Hesperia 3-2 in 10 innings in the morning game. After losing the coin toss, White Cloud batted first as the visiting team, and threatened to score, as Mason Ruether was walked, followed by Alex Cruzan getting hit by a pitch, and then both runners stole the base in front of them, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. After a strikeout, Christain Ringler was walked to load the bases, then the Indians were retired via a strikeout. Shelby came to bat in the first inning, after a leadoff double, and 2 balls thrown to the next batter, Coach Mahn replaced the starting pitcher with Landyn McGowen. The 2nd batter was then walked, which was followed by another walk to the 3rd batter to load the bases. The cleanup hitter, with bases loaded, grounded the ball to McGowen on the mound, who threw home for the force, and catcher Jayson Ruether fired to first base to complete the double play. Shelby still had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, when a single by Smith drove in a run, and that was followed by a single by Dickman to drive in another run, but a perfect throw to home plate by freshmen right fielder Reece Hewitt nailed the runner at home, for the Tigers to take a 2-0 lead. Due to the extra inning game played by the Tigers, their starting pitcher had to be removed due to pitch count limits after allowing walks to Landyn McGowen and Jayden Robinson, after both runners stole a base, with runners now on 2nd and 3rd, KJ Strait smashed a line drive single to left field to plate 2 runs to ty the score at 2-2, but the Indians were not finished. Strait promptly stole 2nd base, and scored on a double by Mason Ruether, as Ruether scored on a groundout by Mason Cruzan, for a 4-2 lead for White Cloud. Shelby scored a single run in their half of the 2nd inning, Coach Mahn now replaced McGowen with Mason Cruzan on the hill with the Indians holding on to a slim 4-3 lead. Cruzan enticed a fielder's choice ground out before picking off the runner on 3rd base to end the inning. White Cloud went down in order in the 3rd inning. Shelby would not go down easily, as Lalo Garcia led off the 3rd inning with a double, which was followed by a walk, for runners to be on 1st and 2nd base. After two consecutive pop outs to shortstop, another walk loaded the bases, before Cruzan buckled down and struck out the next batter to end the inning. The Indians would start off the 4th inning off with a single by Jayden Robinson, and a single by Strait for runners at 1st and 2nd, after a stolen base by both runners, Mason Ruether drove in Strait with a ground out. and Robinson was driven in by a double by Alex Cruzan, for a 6-3 Indians lead. Shelby would be set down in order by Mason Cruzan in the 4th. The Indians went down in order in the 5th inning. Shelby again went down in order in the 5th inning. The Indians would put up another run in the 6th inning, after a leadoff double by Strait, he was driven in by a double by Mason Ruether, for a 7-3 lead. The Tigers again could not solve the slants of Cruzan on the mound, as they again were retired in order in their half of the 6th inning. White Cloud brought their bats with them in the 7th inning, as Reece Hewitt led off the inning with a walk, Landyn McGowen made a bid for a home run as he hit a long fly ball straight away center field that hit 3/4 of the way up the fence for a double to score Hewitt, McGowen scored on a single by Jacob Francis, Nolan Wawzyck had a pitch hit single, Strait hit a single to drive in a run, Ruether walked to drive in a run, Alex Cruzan drove in another run with a single, Mason Cruzan walked, an error allowed 2 more runs to score, after the dust settled, the Indians would plate 8 runs in their half of the 7th inning for a 15-3 lead. Mason Cruzan would again set the Tigers down in order for the 4th inning in a row.
White Cloud's offense was led by KJ Strait with 4 hits, 4 runs scored, and 4 RBI's, Mason Ruether collected 2 doubles, 2 runs scored and 4 RBI's, Alex Cruzan had 2 hits with a double, and 2 RBI's, along with hits by McGowen, Francis, Robinson and Wawczyk. Landyn McGowen picked up the win on the mound, going 1 2/3 innings, allowing 4 walks, 1 hit, 2 runs scored, and 1 strikeout. Mason Cruzan picked up the save, throwing 5 1/3 innings, allowing 1 hit, 2 walks and no runs. The Indian's record stands at 23-11-1 and will be back in Hart on Wednesday, to take on Benzie Central in the Regional Semi-finals.
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