Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

Western Boone's Varsity Baseball team finished off the MAC sweep of North Putnam on Wednesday evening! The game took an extra inning, but the Stars earned the 5-4 victory. Levi Stewart started on the mound for Western Boone and pitched 4.2 innings. Stewart allowed just three earned runs on six hits while striking out two Cougar batters. Stewart was extremely efficient all evening and lived in the strike zone. The senior right-hander only had one walk and averaged just over 15 pitches per inning of work. Stewart's defense played strong behind him, especially freshman Kane Jackson in right field who for the second night in a row made a diving catch to end an inning. Jack Mallory managed the outfield all evening from centerfield and made a couple of high effort played that really helped the Stars. Owen Oakly has emerged as the team's true set up man. Oakley was called upon in the fifth inning to get the Stars out of a tough jam, and he did just that. Oakley pitched 1.1 innings in relief and allowed 0 earned runs. Oakley struck out one batter and also recorded an out on a high infield pop-up. The junior left-hander is often put in tough positions, but his poise and extremely high strike rate allow his teammates and coaches to depend on him in those situations. Oakley's doubles partner in the fall on the tennis court, Easton Nance, followed Oakley on the mound last night. Nance pitched two innings and allowed 1 earned run on one hit. Nance struck out three Cougar batters in his two innings of work, including two strike outs in the 8th inning to end the game. Nance earned the win on paper, but the victory was truly a group effort between Stewart, Oakley, and Nance. The three pitchers combined to walk just one batter all night; the three pitchers fought hard to give their offense enough time to get the job done. The Offense started hot by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Nort Putnam's pitcher settled in, and the Stars' bats cooled through the middle innings of the game. Senior Layton Yancey lead the Stars with three hits. Beau Sawyer added two hits, one of which was a triple. Easton Nance had two hits on the evening and added one RBI. Owen Howe had a hit which drove in an RBI. Kane Jackson added a triple of his own to the hit column. Levi Stewart had one hit and an RBI. Quinn Westerfeld lead off the game with a hit. The biggest hit of the evening came in the top of the 8th inning when newcomer Drew Potts recorded his first hit of the game and drove in what would turn out to be the game winning RBI. Liam Whiteley, Luke Shirley, Zach Sprong, and Kahne Reid were all called upon to utilize their speed and baserunning ability as pinch runners during the contest. Drew Potts was recognized as Player of the Game for his defensive effort and his very timely game-winning RBI. Owen Oakley was also recognized as an Outstanding Performer for his ability to come in during a tough situation and get the Stars out of a really tough spot. The Stars travel to Danville Thursday evening at 6:00 before hosting Tri-West on Saturday. Western Boone carries a five-game winning streak into two tough games with two former Sagamore Conference rivals.