By Kyle LoJacono
The most successful season in Wharton baseball history came to a close May 11 with a 5-3 loss at Orlando Timber Creek in the Class 8A regional finals.
The Wildcats (21-9) came up a few steps short of their ultimate goal, but the squad did accomplish many firsts in the program’s 14-year history, namely qualifying for the postseason, claiming a district championship and winning a playoff game.
“It’s been a great year,” said nine-year Wharton coach Scott Hoffman. “We wanted to show we can compete with the best teams and that this program can be dominant. I think we did that this season.”
The Wildcats scored early in the contest with a pair of runs in the first inning thanks to an RBI double from Collin Woody, who came around to score on a passed ball later in the frame.
Wharton junior Tuck Neuhaus, a University of Louisville commit, had an RBI double of his own in the second.
The vaunted Wolves (21-6) wouldn’t go down quietly and took a 4-3 lead in the fourth after a pair of Wildcats errors and a two-RBI hit by Kellen Clemens.
Wharton defeated Class 8A-District 7 rival Durant in the regional semis, a 1-0 walk-off win May 8. Junior outfielder Ryan Lawson got on in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out hit. Junior catcher Reed Gray sent the home team out winners with a single to center field to score pinch runner Milton Figeurou.
Gray entered the contest batting .254 and with only eight RBI all season.
“You’re down to your second out, and (he’s) due; they’re all due, and he hits it out there,” Hoffman said. “We just wanted a bleeder, a little bleeder, a passed ball, something.”
Gray used that same mentality in trying to get a good swing on one of the pitches from Tyler Danish, who had nine strikeouts.
“I knew his stuff was dirty,” Gray said. “He threw a fastball, probably the one thing I could hit, and I got it.”
The win was the Wildcats’ first in regulation in four contests following 12-inning affairs in the district finals and regional quarters and a contest that lasted eight frames in the district semis.
Wharton got solid pitching, this time from Woody (9-2, 1.82 ERA). The senior said he was having trouble catching his breath against the Cougars (16-10), but still managed a complete-game three-hitter.
“My arm felt fine, but I felt like I was out of breath so I couldn’t really put my body into anything,” Woody said.
Woody got out of trouble in the top half of the seventh. He walked the batter to load the bases with two outs but got out of the jam with a strikeout.
The shutout was the Wildcats’ third in four games. Wharton had scored only six runs in the five games leading up to the regional finals, but allowed only one.
