Raiders salvage a split with Baxter Springs

At times on Thursday night, Frontenac and Baxter Springs resembled two baseball teams which finished third in state last year, Baxter Springs in Class 4A and Frontenac in Class 3A.

Baxter Springs won the first game 6-5 in extra innings and Frontenac scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to salvage a split of the Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League doubleheader with a 5-4 win in Game 2.

“After you lose the first one, it’s always good to come back and win the second one,” Frontenac head coach Bill Sullivan said. “It tells you a lot about your guys when they came back out and didn’t dwell on what happened the first game.”

Entering the bottom of the seventh, Frontenac trailed 4-2 and had only managed five hits against Baxter Springs pitchers Zach Miller and Derek Barnes. All that changed with the at-bat of leadoff hitter Bryce Burdette and then came singles by Bryan Wade, Brett Macary, Blake Vail and Matt Standlee; Macary scored the winning run on the Standlee hit, as Baxter Springs left fielder Shelby White bobbled the ball and gave Macary plenty of time to score.

“Those were the best at-bats we had all night,” Sullivan said. “I thought everybody went to the plate with the right approach. They were focused and they knew what they were looking for. I wish they had done that all night. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad it happened when it did.”

Baxter Springs trailed 4-1 in the first game before a three-run fifth inning. Jono Crockett led off the fifth with a walk, Colton Krokroskia singled to right field and Zak Himes reached on an infield single to load the bases with Lions and the heart of the order coming up. Austin Karnes drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Josh Fry smacked a two-run double.

Baxter took a 5-4 lead in the top half of the seventh, propelled by the speed of Krokroskia and the hitting of Karnes, and Frontenac tied it up at 5 in the bottom half of the seventh, assisted by two Baxter Springs errors.

Both teams went scoreless in the eighth and then Baxter struck first and last in extra innings with the top of its order up in the ninth.

Krokroskia walked, advanced one base on a Himes sacrifice bunt and stumbled around second base on his way to third on a Karnes single up the middle. However, Karnes ran toward second, forced an errant throw by Standlee and Krokroskia scored the game-winning run.

“Baxter’s a good team, well-coached and they put themselves in a position to put some pressure on us,” Sullivan said. “They put some pressure on us and I don’t think we responded real well, to be honest. We broke down a little bit mentally a few times. You know what, it’s good to get that early in the season and I think we can build on that.”

Frontenac moves to 8-1 on the season.

Frontenac softball

Baxter Springs had undefeated Frontenac on the precipice of its first loss in the first game of a CNC twinbill, leading the Raiders 3-0 into the sixth inning.

Junior first baseman Nayna Fields came through with that one big play to open the floodgates, as she bashed a triple and scored the first run of the game for her team on a wild pitch.

Junior pitcher Lindsey Gorham and junior right fielder Libby Warrick hit for RBI — Warrick on a double — and then junior catcher Sam Bonner gave Frontenac a two-run lead with a two-run double.

Baxter Springs had not scored more than one run on starting pitcher Gorham all night and Frontenac retired Baxter Springs in the seventh for a 5-3 win.

The Lions again roared early in the second game — scoring two first-inning runs — but Frontenac replied sooner with three in the first, six in the third and three in the fourth, claiming a 13-3 win in six innings.
In the second game, Fields went 3-for-5 with three RBI, senior Danielle McBride 3-4 with two RBI, Haley Wilson 3-3 with a double and RBI, Warrick 2-4 with a double and RBI.

Gorham earned wins in both games, striking out eight and walking none in Game 1 and giving up four hits and striking out four in Game 2. All told, Gorham walked one Baxter Springs batter all night.
Frontenac runs its undefeated mark to 9-0.

Game One
Baxter Springs baseball 6, Frontenac 5 (9 innings)
BSHS    010 030 101 — 6 8 3
FHS    220 000 100 — 5 7 4
WP — Colton Krokroskia. LP — Matt Standlee.

Game Two
Frontenac 5, Baxter Springs 4
BSHS    003 000 1 — 4 7 3
FHS    100 010 3 — 5 10 2
WP — Matt Standlee. LP — Derek Barnes.

Game One
Frontenac softball 5, Baxter Springs 3
BSHS    010 101 0 — 3
FHS    000 005 X — 5
WP — Lindsey Gorham.

Game Two
Frontenac 13, Baxter Springs 3 (6 innings)
BSHS    201 000 —  3
FHS    306 301 — 13
WP — Lindsey Gorham.