The Abilene Cowboys baseball team earned a split at home against the visiting Marysville Bulldogs on Tuesday night.   Abilene would win the opener 7-3 by receiving a strong pitching performance from Jake Bartley.  The junior threw six complete innings of shutout ball against the Bulldogs before struggling early in the final inning and being relieved due to his pitch count.  

Marysville would earn the split by winning the second game of the night by a score of 20-7.  The Bulldogs would get some assistance from Abilene as the Cowboys committed 10 errors in the game that helped lead to several multiple run innings.  Senior Nolan Wilkins would lead Abilene in the game with three hits and three RBI’s in the game.  

Game 1 – Abilene 7, Marysville 3

Abilene got a solid effort of six-inning shutout baseball from starting pitcher Jake Bartley to win 7-3 in the opener.  Bartley, who struck out 12 batters in the game, would also help his own cause by collecting two hits and two RBI’s in the victory.  

The Cowboys grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Levi Evans walked and eventually worked his way around the bases and scored on a wild pitch.  They then would score a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to lead 3-0 on an RBI hit  by Bartley and a sacrifice fly by Ethan Evans.  

Two more runs that pushed the lead to 5-0 would be scored by Abilene in the bottom of the fourth inning as Nolan Wilkins would score on a Cooper Holloway  RBI single and Levi Evans would drive in a run on a sacrifice fly.  

The two final runs for the Cowboys would come in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings.    A lead off triple by Ethan Evans would get things started in the fifth when Canyn Taylor would drive him in with an RBI single.  Bartley would then drive in the final Abilene run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on a double to left field.

Leading 7-0 entering the last inning, Bartley would be begin and be charged the three runs that Marysville would score in the game.  Senior Lane Hoekman would come in the game in relief and finish the game for the 7-3 Cowboys win.

Marysville        0 0 0 0 0 0 3 – 3-4-2

Abilene        1 0 2 2 1 1 X – 7-10-0

TB: Warders 1, Hagar 1, Erickson 1, Woodyard 2; Taylor 1, L. Evans 1, Thrower 2, E. Evans 4, bartley 3, Rogers 1, Holloway 1.

SB: Thrower, L.Hoekman, Trower, Wilkins

J. Bartley: 6IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, 5BB, 12 KO

L. Hoekman 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1KO

Game 2 – Marysville 20, Abilene 7

After keeping the game close early through two innings, Marysville’s offense broke a 2-2 tie and exploded for multiple runs per inning the remainder of the game to win 20-7.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, 10 errors in the game aided the Bulldogs in their victory.  

Marysville would grab an early 2-0 lead on an RBI line drive single and an error.  Abilene would answer and tie the game in the bottom of the second inning when a lead off double by Ethan Evans, a Lane Hoekman single, and an earned walk would be followed by a two RBI base hit to center field by Nolan Wilkins.  

The Bulldogs would grab the lead for good with three runs scored in the top of the third inning as they took advantage of an error and two wild pitches with their bases loaded.  That would be the beginning of the four consecutive innings where they scored three runs in each inning.  

Abilene would try and keep pace with Marysville and score a single run in the bottom of the fourth that cut the lead to 8-3.  They would then score three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning that cut the lead to 11-6, and their final single run scored in the bottom of the sixth that cut the lead to 14-7.  Canyn Taylor and Nolan Wilkins would each add RBI base hits during the Cowboys scoring stretch.

The Bulldogs would close out the game for the 20-7 victory by scoring the final six runs in their top of the seventh inning.  

Marysville        2 0 3 3 3 3 6 – 20-15-2

Abilene        0 2 0 1 3 1 0 – 7 -10-10

TB: Scheele 4, Miller 1, Moser 5, Warders 2, Hagar 1, Rengstorf 4, Schroedl 2, Haefele 1, Woodyard 1; Wilkins 3, L. Evans 2, L. Hoekman 1, E. Evans 2, Bartley 2, Holloway 1.

SB: Rengdorf, Haefele; Wilkins 2, Taylor 1, L. Hoekman 2, E. Evans, Bartley.

E. Evans 2.1 IP, 5H, 5R, 2ER, 4BB, 1KO

L. Evans 1.1IP, 3H, 3R, 1ER, 3BB, 1KO

L. Rogers 1.1IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 0KO

B. Peterson 1.1IP, 2H, 9R, 3ER, 2BB, 1KO

C. Holloway 0.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2KO