Strikeouts made the difference in Thursday evening’s game between Southern Wells and South Adams in Berne as the home Starfires came away with a 3-2 win in the ACAC despite tallying just three hits, but it was an outstanding defensive play that will have people talking about this one for a while.
After Southern Wells scored with two outs to cut the lead to one in the top of the seventh, Conner Bronnenberg singled with a bloop into the outfield. Owen Wanner, the Starfire shortstop, corralled the ball and threw home, where Luke Bauman was waiting to apply the tag and end the game in dramatic fashion.
The Starfires improved their record to 7-6 with the win.
Derek Weaver, along with Jax Wanner in relief, struck out 13 Raider batters and overcame the fact that Southern Wells had five hits to the Stars’ three.
The Raiders got to Weaver in the second with a pair of singles and a stolen base. The Starfire starter did not allow any more damage after picking off the runner to get out of the inning.
Weaver then came to the plate and singled to right and the Starfires mounted a rally in the bottom of the second, but Landon Johnson worked around a walk and made a play on a ground ball to end the threat and the inning.
Hunter Fields tied the game at one apiece in the bottom of the fourth with a double, knocking in Manny Juarez, who had walked and stolen a base earlier in the inning.
Wanner came into the game to pitch and struck out the next three batters swinging, setting the table for how the rest of the game would progress.
Wanner was first up in the bottom of the fifth and reached on an error, then took second on a sacrifice bunt by Derek McKean. That set up Owen Wanner for an RBI chance and he gave the Stars the lead after Jax took third on a passed ball.
Walks continued to hurt the Raiders in the sixth and a change of pitchers didn’t make a difference as the Stars put two runners on to start the inning. Another sacrifice bunt executed correctly put Kyle Minger into scoring position and he came home on a sac fly from Fields.
South Adams will play Blackhawk Christian in the second game of the Starfire Invitational Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The opening game will be between Churubusco and Frankton.
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