Last Thursday afternoon, Steven Kemp’s Owensville varsity Dutchmen baseball team hosted the Hazelwood West Wildcats at OHS Field in their season opener while their junior-varsity Dutchmen counterparts trekked into St. Louis for a road game with the host JV Wildcats.

St. Louis area baseball schools generally scheduled baseball games where the varsity teams travel and their JV teams stay home.

In varsity action, Owensville scratched across single tally marks in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings before breaking the game open with a seven-run bottom of the sixth inning capped by a George Vandegriffe walk-off RBI single giving the varsity Dutchmen an 11-1 win in six innings.

Banging out 14 hits while holding Hazelwood West to three, Owensville utilized their base running to the tune of 24 stolen bases to manufacture runs.

“We did a great job getting runners on base and utilizing their speed to create scoring opportunities,” Kemp said. “Once we were able to time their starter, we put the ball in play and good things eventually happened to help us get the win in our season opener.”

Senior Chase Weirich got the opening-day start pitching around a two-out double in the top of the first inning to give his Dutchmen offense a chance to break the scoreless tie in the bottom half of the frame.

Gabe Medlock ran the count full before leading off the game with a double to left field.

Taking third on a wild pitch, he eventually scored on a Chris Allen RBI single giving the Dutchmen an early 1-0 lead after one inning.

Over the next few innings, Weirich settled in retiring nine batters in a row before allowing a two-out single in the top of the fourth inning against the Wildcats.

After a scoreless bottom of the second inning, Owensville added to their lead in the bottom half of the third inning with a run on three hits.

Allen started the frame with a one-out single before stealing second base and being replaced on the base paths by courtesy runner Liam Rasmussen.

Weirich then helped himself with a single left field putting runners on the corners at first and third base.

Cael Walker replaced Weirich on the bases as another courtesy runner.

After Rasmussen was retired trying to advance to third base on a Tucker Sassmann single, Owensville utilized the running game to add to their lead.

During Westin Kramme’s first at bat of the game, Walker stole third and home before Sassmann also took third base with the orange and black now leading 2-0 after three innings.

Working around a two-out single in the top of the fourth inning, Weirich kept his bid for a season-opening shutout alive keeping the Wildcats off the scoreboard halfway through the game.

Henry Loeb led off the bottom of the fourth inning reaching on a hit by pitch.

Khai Krupp then recorded a single during which Loeb was thrown out at the plate trying to score.

With Vandegriffe at the plate, Krupp stole second before taking third base on a wild pitch and scoring on the same pitch bumping the Dutchmen lead to 3-0.

Vandegriffe went on to lace a double to center field before he was left stranded on the base paths at the end of the fourth inning.

Sassmann and Weirich traded places to start the fifth inning with Weirich moving to first base and Sassmann moving to the pitching mound.

Retiring the side in the top of the fifth, Sassmann gave his Dutchmen offense a chance to add to their 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Weirich led off the frame with a single before taking second on a wild pitch and advancing to third base on a Sassmann single.

Walker came in as a courtesy runner for Sassmann only to steal second base putting two runners in scoring position.

During Leyton Homeyer’s third at bat of the game, Weirich stole home while Walker took third base giving the Dutchmen a 4-0 lead.

Loeb and Krupp both walked to load the bases before an inning-ending fly out left the bases full of Dutchmen after five innings.

Hazelwood West got on the board in the top of the sixth inning when Alex Douglas reached on an error before scoring on a two-out RBI double off the bat of Jayden Green.

Sassmann then worked around a hit batter limiting the damage to one run leaving Owensville with a 4-1 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

Medlock led off the bottom of the sixth with his second hit of the game before Allen drove him in with a RBI single.

Weirich followed with a RBI single scoring Rasmussen who entered as a courtesy runner for Allen.

Now on the mound, Sassmann helped his own cause with a RBI triple scoring Weirich moving Owensville’s lead to 7-1 still with no outs in the inning.

Back in as a courtesy runner for Sassmann, Walker stole home moving the Dutchmen to within three runs of ending the game via the 10-run mercy rule after five innings or later.

Walks to Westin Kramme, Homeyer and Loeb loaded the bases for Krupp.

Delivering a RBI sacrifice fly to left field, Krupp drove in Kramme bumping the orange and black lead to 9-1.

After Homeyer stole home putting the Dutchmen run total into double digits, Vandegriffe ended the game with a RBI single to left field scoring Loeb.

Weirich earned the win pitching four innings of shutout baseball allowing just two hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

Sassmann pitched two innings of relief allowing a hit and an unearned run while striking out five Wildcat batters.

Allen, Weirich and Sassmann each had a team-leading three hits for the Dutchmen.

Medlock, Walker and Weirich also scored a team-high two runs.

JV Dutchmen at Hazelwood West

In junior-varsity baseball action along Interstate 70 in St. Louis, Owensville jumped out to a 6-1 lead through two innings before a seven-run top of the third inning eventually led to a 13-2 mercy-rule victory in five innings for the JV Dutchmen over Hazelwood West’s JV Wildcats.

Out hitting the Wildcats 7-3, Owensville got hits from Jax Johnston, Mason Turner, Thomas Christie, Will Coppedge, Cayson Faulkner, Matthew Gooch and Chase Heidbrink.

Johnston led off the game with a double before stealing home with two outs during Mason Turner’s first at-bat of the game.

Caleb Lottmann walked prior to Turner’s first plate appearance and scored on a RBI triple to left field by Turner doubling the Dutchmen lead to 2-0 after a half-inning.

Lottmann was also the starting pitcher for the JV Dutchmen and earned the win pitching two innings while allowing a hit and an unearned run to go with five strikeouts.

During Owensville’s four-run top of the second inning, Coppedge singled and scored on a Faulkner RBI single before he crossed the plate on an error during a Kenneth Schebaum walk.

After a Gooch single put runners at the corners, Heidbrink doubled home Schebaum before Gooch scored on a Johnston RBI ground out giving Owensville a 6-1 lead after two innings when Hazelwood West scored a run in the bottom half of the second inning.

Sending 13 batters to the plate in the top of the third inning, Owensville scored seven runs without the aid of a single hit.

Crossing the plate for the orange and black in the frame were Payten Pendleton, Jaxon Lowe, Lottmann, Christie, Coppedge, Faulkner and Schebaum.

Last Friday in Branson, Kemp’s varsity Dutchmen dropped a pair of tournament games against East Carter and Boonville by final scores of 6-1 and 4-3 respectively.

Against East Carter, Owensville scored their lone run of the game when Weirich double and scored on an error after Henry Womack flied out.

Womack and Weirich each had a hit for the Dutchmen against the Redbirds.

Homeyer took the loss pitching four innings while allowing an unearned run and a walk on five hits to go with five strikeouts.

Trailing 3-0 entering a do-or-die top of the seventh against Boonville, Owensville plated three runs on an Allen single, a Weirich double and a Womack single.

Scoring in the frame were Rasmussen, Weirich and Vandegriffe.

Boonville answered with two hits in the bottom of the seventh leading to the eventual game-winning run.

Medlock took the loss pitching four innings while allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits and two walks to go with four strikeouts.

Hosting Rolla last night (Tuesday), Owensville will open Four Rivers Conference (FRC) play tonight (Wednesday) against Pacific on the road before facing Mexico and Southern Boone on the road over the weekend in Ashland.