By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Finally. A warm, day for spring sports in northwest Missouri.
Except for that gash darn wind.
Strong south winds blew the dust and a few ballcaps around at St. Joseph Christian High School, but the Bulldogs (9-1) tallied 14 hits and scored a combined eight runs over the final two innings to beat St. Joseph Christian 11-5 Tuesday afternoon.
Playing in the wind is nothing new. But, playing in a constant 30-40 mph wind like Tuesday? That may have been a first for everyone.
"They stood up to the challenge," East Buchanan coach Dave Elms said. "The wind is a challenge. It's not something you practice and play in everyday. It was something that, in all of my years of coaching, I don't recall being in a game like this with the wind being this hard."
St. Joseph Christian (7-3) stood up to the challenge early themselves, as senior pitcher and Missouri Western baseball signee Camden Lutz settled in, and held East Buchanan to just one hit on eight strikeouts through the first three innings.
The Lions drew first blood in the bottom of the second inning. A triple by junior Blake Ray, and then RBI singles by freshmen Nick Orscheln and Hayden Riley gave Christian an early 2-0 lead.
East Buchanan answered in the top of the fourth. Senior Dauson Golden hit a two-run RBI single deep down the left field line with bases loaded, tying the game at 2-2.
Golden had a great day, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two more driven in.
"I've kind of been struggling all year," Golden said. "I went up there and chilled out and hit the ball. When you go out there and chill out and not try to kill it, you hit the ball."
Christian hit right back in the bottom of the fourth. A two-run RBI triple to left by Orscheln put the Lions back in front 4-2.
Orscheln was stellar himself, going 3-for-4 with a run scored.
East Buchanan got a run back in the fifth, but left the bases loaded and still trailed 4-3 entering the sixth. Lutz reclimbed the hill in the sixth for Christian, but reached his pitch count after a hit and a fielding error put Bulldogs on first and second with nobody out.
Lutz had a strong start, but took the loss, despite striking out 12 batters. He walked only two batters and hit two others. He allowed seven hits and five total runs in the loss - four of them earned.
Senior Cru Conaway was the first batter to face Christian reliever Blake Ray, and Conaway smacked a triple to left center to score two more runs and give the Bulldogs their first lead at 5-4.
East Buchanan never trailed after that. Conaway's triple came after he had struck out in each of his first three at-bats.
"I struggled there for the first few at-bats," he said. "(Christian) changed pitchers and I knew it was time to turn on."
The Bulldogs scored five runs on four hits in the sixth and three runs on four doubles in the seventh to pad their lead. Christian got one run back in the sixth, but left bases loaded to end the game in the seventh.
A tough end for Christian, but a nice bounce back for East Buchanan, which had just suffered its first loss of the season Monday to Lafayette at Phil Welch Stadium.
"(Monday), we were in a situation that we hadn't been in all year," Elms pointed out. "We try and teach and coach that every game is a learning experience. I think (Monday) was a learning experience for us. Shows a lot of heart on the kids' parts that they wanted to come back and compete."
It gets no easier for East Buchanan, as the Bulldogs go to Lawson (10-1) Thursday. The Cardinals thumped Trenton 24-2 on Tuesday.
Christian is at North Andrew (0-6) on Thursday.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.