Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers pick up first wins of baseball season

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[April 13, 2017]  Coach Joel Washko’s young Mount Pulaski Baseball Team picked up their first wins of the season this week and gauging by all the smiles in the dugout Wednesday evening, the team was feeling pretty good.

To start off the week’s baseball action, on Tuesday afternoon the Hilltoppers defeated Cerro Gordo/Bement 13-0.

With sophomore Logan DeRight on the mound, DeRight only allowed three hits and struck out seven batters in the five inning contest while earning the Hilltoppers first win of the season.

Mount Pulaski’s bats meanwhile came alive and the Hilltoppers put up six runs in the bottom of the first inning. The offense continued on a tear with the Hilltoppers scoring three runs in the second inning, three more runs in the third inning and finally added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Freshman Brandon Kretzinger was 2-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored for Mount Pulaski.


Sophomore Tanner Farris was brilliant on the mound Wednesday afternoon for Mt. Pulaski. Farris struck out ten batters and allowed just one walk in the 11-1 win over South Fork/Edinburg. Farris was also 3-4 at the plate with two RBIs and three runs scored. 

Sophomore Ben Fricke was 2-2 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Another sophomore, Tanner Farris, was 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Joey Davis, Braydin Lanners and Logan DeRight also had hits as the Hilltoppers offense broke out with nine hits. Coach Washko’s team was also off and running on the base paths with ten stolen bases.

Wednesday South Fork/Edinburg

The Hilltoppers returned to Bob Gasaway Field on Wednesday afternoon to host South Fork/Edinburg. The Hilltoppers came away with an 11-1 win over the Wildcats in six innings.

Tanner Farris took the mound for Mount Pulaski and the sophomore was outstanding on the bump. Farris threw the complete six inning contest, allowing just one run on three hits. Farris also struck out ten batters while giving up just one walk to earn the second win of the season for Mount Pulaski.


Sophomore Ben Fricke was dynamite behind home plate Wednesday afternoon for the Hilltoppers and he was also explosive from the batter’s box. In the last two games, Fricke is 5-for-6 with seven RBI’s and three runs scored. 

The Hilltoppers offense pounded out eleven hits with four guys having multi-hit performances. Farris helped his own cause at the plate by going 3-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Catcher Ben Fricke was 3-4 with four RBIs. Logan DeRight was 2-4, scored two runs and knocked in one run. Brandon Kretzinger was 2-3 with a run scored. John Henry Trauner also had a single for the Hilltoppers.

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The Hilltoppers picked up their first two wins on the season this week. This is following the 11-1 win over South Fork/Edinburg on April 12, 2017

Mount Pulaski stole nine bases as a team, with Braydin Lanners swiping three.

Ben Fricke and Logan DeRight are now tied for the team-leading batting average. Both are crushing the ball as of late, good for a .370 average. Senior Eli Olson is batting .333 while Tanner Farris is hitting .323 and Brandon Kretzinger settles in at .316 for the Hilltoppers.

Fricke leads the team with eight RBIs and DeRight has five RBIs on the season.

Head Coach Joel Washko was very happy following the second win Wednesday evening and he really has not been disappointed at all with the way his team has been performing this season. “After the first couple games this season (which were losses to teams from the Chicago area) we really were playing solid. It’s just that our bats had not come around yet. A lot of that is we are playing a lot of young kids. Freshmen and sophomores are out there. Also we weren’t playing consistently. The weather was raining and we were getting rained out a lot. Our bats were still cold.

"These last couple games we faced some pitchers that weren’t necessarily that experienced but it was good to see our kids swinging the bats well.

"We are starting to do some other things. We are starting to steal bases and getting bunts down. We just started to play a lot more solidly offensively. Our defense has been great the last four or five games. In the last year we’ve really improved in that.

"We are making plays. Our pitchers, our top three guys (Farris, DeRight and freshman Todd Kelly) have really thrown the ball well. So we are playing solid baseball for the most part. I think we just need our bats to come around and the last couple of games I think they have,” Coach Washko said.

Of the pitching trio of Farris, DeRight and Kelly, Coach Washko said, “They are freshmen and sophomores so that is encouraging for us. They are competing. The last two nights the big thing we told them was, it doesn’t matter who you are playing you can still throw that first pitch strike and get ahead. They both did a really good job of that. Logan threw ninety percent strikes yesterday and Tanner was at seventy-four percent strikes today. So when you do that, when you get ahead, that makes things really tough on the other team’s offense. So I think that was a big reason why the last two games have been kind of lop-sided scores. They really set the tone for that on the mound."

The Hilltoppers are now 2-7 and will travel to Manito to take on Midwest Central today at 4:30 p.m.

[Teena Lowery]

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