DOUG WOLTER
dwolter@dglobe.com
WORTHINGTON - Ten games into the 2016 amateur baseball season, it’s probably safe to say that the Worthington Cubs are better, and more balanced, than they’ve been in years.
On Wednesday night at the middle school field in Worthington, the Cubs pounded out 14 hits in a 15-6 victory over the Heron Lake Lakers. The pitching was solid, and the hitting was probably even better.
“We’ve got lots of good arms. In years past we’ve had one or two. This year we’re looking at four or five, or more,” said player-coach Josh Wasmund moments after Wednesday’s game.
A quick look through the statistics revealed another happy fact.
“All but one starter had a hit. We had lots of hard-hit balls. We had six extra base hits. We worked 10 walks,” Wasmund said.
The 8-2 Cubs received an especially fine hitting performance from Joe Ahrens, who was 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs and five RBIs. Ahrens slugged a solo home run, drove in two more with a single, and belted a two-run homer over the leftfield fence in the seventh inning.
Ryan Swanson had two hits and four RBIs, and Ryan Lee and Justin Saufley had two hits of their own.
Saufley pitched the first six innings, allowing four earned runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven. Lee finished up strong.
Trey Cranston had two of Heron Lake’s six hits. One was a double.
Four Heron Lake pitchers saw action.
R H E
Heron Lake 101 022 000 - 6 6 1
Worthington 011 540 31x - 15 14 4
Fairmont 13, Windom 1
WINDOM - Scott Chirpich pitched seven innings and Fairmont rolled past the Windom Pirates in a seven-inning contest.
Brad Schlomann took the loss for Windom.
Nathan Adrian had a double for the Pirates and teammate Sam Huska singled and had the team’s lone RBI.
R H E
Fair 803 011 0 - 13 17 2
Win 001 000 0 - 1 6 6
