Last Thursday afternoon at OHS Field on the campus of Owensville High School (OHS), Steven Kemp’s Owensville Dutchmen baseball team opened their season hosting New Bloomfield’s Wildcats who also have orange and black as their school colors.

Nursing an early 1-0 lead after one inning, Owensville cashed in two walks, two errors and a hit for two runs helping them go on to post a 5-1 victory over their Callaway County opponents.

“We played well offensively and got a solid pitching outing from Matt Eckelkamp,” Kemp said.

Pitching around a walk and a hit batter in the top of the first inning, Eckelkamp gave his Dutchmen offense a chance at grabbing the first lead of the game.

Zaiden Gates walked before being retired on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Chase Weirich for the second out of the inning.

Coming through with a clutch two-out hit, Elias Medlock delivered a RBI single up the middle scoring Weirich giving Owensville a 1-0 lead.

Working around a two-out single in the top of the second inning, Eckelkamp gave the orange and black a chance to add to their lead.

Still leading 1-0 after two innings, Owensville sent seven batters to the plate in the bottom of the third inning leading to two runs.

Gates singled before Landon Kramme and Weirich drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Medlock.

Reaching base on a pair of Wildcat errors, Medlock drove in Kramme and Gates bumping the Dutchmen lead to 3-0 after three innings.

New Bloomfield turned a walk and a two-out double into their first and only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning.

Unable to answer in the bottom half of the fourth inning, Eckelkamp pitched around a two-out walk in the top of the fifth keeping Owensville’s lead at two runs.

Acting as the designated hitter, senior Logan Bailey walked and scored on a Jaden Gerlemann RBI single giving the Dutchmen their 3-run lead back at 4-1 after five innings.

Adam Wilson came on in relief of Eckelkamp pitching two scoreless innings allowing no runs and no hits to go with three strikeouts.

Owensville scored their final run of the game in the top of the sixth when catcher Chris Allen singled allowing courtesy runner Liam Rasmussen to later score on a RBI single.

Eckelkamp earned the win going five innings while allowing a run on two hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts.

Matt Killian took the loss for the Wildcats pitching two and a third innings allowing a run on one hit and two walks to go with three strikeouts.

Kramme reached base safely in his four plate appearances with three walks and a sixth-inning single. He also scored a team-high two runs for the Dutchmen.

Also crossing the plate for OHS were Rasmussen, Gates and Bailey.

During three innings of JV baseball action, Bryce Kramme had his way with New Bloomfield’s hitters tossing a one-hit shutout while striking out seven Wildcats during Owensville’s 2-0 victory.

Scoring both of their runs in the bottom of the third inning, Grant Huebler walked and scored on a Tucker Sassmann RBI ground out before Dillon Schulte also walked and scored on a RBI single off the bat of Leyton Homeyer.

Also reaching base for the JV Dutchmen against New Bloomfield were Paden Loeb on a second-inning single and Bryce Kramme on two walks.

Traveling to Rolla last night (Tuesday) for non-conference baseball action, Kemp’s Dutchmen will hit the road to Ashland Saturday for a doubleheader against the host Southern Boone Eagles and Mexico Bulldogs before returning home on Monday, March 31 to host Salem’s Tigers at 4:30 p.m., at OHS Field.