The Stoughton baseball team was tied late with Madison Edgewood, but the Crusaders piled on seven runs over the final two innings to knock off the Vikings 10-3 in a Badger Small Conference opener on Tuesday, April 7, at Stoughton High School.
With the game tied 3-3 at the end of the fifth inning, Edgewood added two runs in the top of the sixth and tacked on five runs in the top of the seventh.
“We have to play a complete game,” Stoughton coach Jeremy Dunnihoo said. “Some of the things we got away with early caught up to us late in the game, pitchers throwing too many pitches, walking guys. We got out of some jams early with some double plays, but we weren’t getting those in the last innings. They had a good approach with runners on base. Even when we made some decent pitches, they found a way to punch it through the infield and get those runners home.”
Stoughton’s Colyn Kotlowski looks to turn a double play during the Vikings’ 10-3 Badger Small Conference loss to Madison Edgewood on Tuesday, April 7, at Stoughton High School.
Photo by Jack Miller
Senior Colyn Kotlowski singled on a ground ball to left field with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to put Stoughton ahead 1-0. After Edgewood tied the game at 1 with a run in the top of the third inning, Stoughton took back the lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the third after junior Reign Altenburg lined a two-out double to left field to score junior Jaxson Nielsen, who also scored the Vikings’ first run.
Stoughton’s Reign Altenburg celebrates an RBI double during the Vikings’ 10-3 Badger Small Conference loss to Madison Edgewood on Tuesday, April 7, at Stoughton High School.
Photo by Jack Miller
The Crusaders took their first lead of the game at 3-2 after a pair of RBI doubles in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Altenburg drove in sophomore Givon Storkson on a two-out single to center field to knot the game at 3. Altenburg finished 2-for-4.
Stoughton’s Reign Altenburg fires a pitch during the Vikings’ 10-3 Badger Small Conference loss to Madison Edgewood on Tuesday, April 7, at Stoughton High School.
Photo by Jack Miller
“We’ve always preached to guys that we want you to hunt fastballs, find those fastballs and drive them,” Dunnihoo said. “That’s something Reign does really well. He looks for his pitch, when he sees it he’s ready to jump all over it. Reign has a lot of power, he’s a strong kid. When he can get a barrel to a ball, he’s going to hit it hard. More times than not when you hit a ball hard, good things are going to happen.”
A two-run single in the top of the sixth put Edgewood back ahead 5-3. After a three up, three down bottom of the sixth, the Crusaders plated five runs in the top of the seventh to build its seven-run lead.
Nielsen, Altenburg and Kotlowski all had two hits for Stoughton. Alex Reuter earned the start for Stoughton and allowed three earned runs on four hits in 4 ⅓ innings. He added four strikeouts.
Stoughton’s Alex Reuter throws a pitch during the Vikings’ 10-3 Badger Small Conference loss to Madison Edgewood on Tuesday, April 7, at Stoughton High School.
Photo by Jack Miller
“Alex is a guy we’re expecting to throw a lot of innings for us this year,” Dunnihoo said. “He has increased his velocity quite a bit. He messes with timing as a pitcher. Hitting is hard to do and when you can disrupt timing it’s even harder. He has some tricks to disrupt timing. We just want to see him get more of his offspeed in the zone and stay competitive with it a little more.”
All three of Stoughton’s runs came with two outs in the inning.
“Anytime you get three runs with two outs, you’re probably expecting to win that game,” Dunnihoo said. “Unfortunately for us, it was the only three runs we scored. I thought we came up with some clutch hits. We found a lot of barrels and we hit a lot of balls hard.”