The Bearcats punctuated their regular season Monday evening, May 6, and celebrated senior night with a lopsided three-inning win over the Wellsville-Middletown Tigers by the final score of 16-0.

After last week’s game against New Haven was rained out, and the senior night recognition delayed along with it, Hermann (10-20) appeared to have had enough waiting and resolved to finish Monday’s game quickly and finally get around to honoring the graduating seniors.

They got off to a solid start on offense, posting three runs in the bottom of the first and wreaking havoc on the basepaths, exemplified by Trace Erfling stealing two bases himself before scoring the game’s first run.

He would later be joined by Charlie Tyree and Trent Lampkin as players with two steals in the game.

However, it was not until the second inning that the game truly got away from the Tigers’ pitching and defense.

On just a handful of hits, and a handful more walks, the Bearcats took full advantage of a litany of errors and used smart, opportunistic baserunning to hang 13 runs on Wellsville-Middletown in the bottom of the second.

Although they were only credited with nine runs-batted-in as a team with John Borzillo, Jordan Heying, and Lampkin each driving in a pair, almost every player to go to the plate for Hermann scored a run against the Tigers.

Most scored multiple times and Erfling finished his day with a team-leading three runs scored as part of an excellent day at the plate.

He had two hits including a double in three at-bats, scored three times, drove in one, and stole two bases.

By the time the inning had come to an end, the Bearcats had chased two Tiger pitchers, increased their lead to 16-0, and now needed only to hold their opponents scoreless in the top of the third inning in order to win by the 15-run mercy rule.

They would do just that as the Tigers went quietly and Hermann secured a senior night victory in their final game before the district playoffs begin.

The win was their first since defeating St. James back on April 24, giving them a rebound from a pair of losses over the weekend to Capital City and Hannibal.

More importantly, it gave the Bearcats much needed momentum heading into the Class 3 District 6 Tournament at Montgomery County High School this weekend.

Hermann has secured the top seed in the tournament, affording them a first-round bye.

They will play the winner of Friday’s game between Bowling Green and Mark Twain on Saturday, May 11, at 12 p.m.

Should they win the semifinal game, they will play in the championship game Tuesday, May 14, against either Montgomery County or Elsberry at 5:30 p.m.

Kohlbusch cutline: Despite his outing being cut short by his team’s offensive outburst, Lane Kohlbusch still managed to strikeout five batters in his two-inning start against the Tigers Monday, May 6, and picked up his third win of the season.

Romig cutline: Hermann’s catcher Chase Romig readies himself for the next pitch against Wellsville-Middletown Monday afternoon. Romig went 1-2 with a double to the wall in left-center field, his second of the season.