HOLLANDALE — The Pecatonica Vikings opened their season a day earlier than expected, hosting Edgar in a doubleheader March 28. With the Blanchardville field still waterlogged from spring flooding and cold weather forecasted, Vikings coach Jim Strommen said enough strings were pulled to get the twinbill played in Hollandale, the schools’ alternate sight.
The two teams split the games, with Edgar winning the first 7-6, and Pecatonica winning 12-7 in Game 2.
“It was the same thing in each game, one big inning for both teams was the difference,” said Strommen, who added that it was Edgar’s first time outside this spring as the visiting team still had snow on its field in Northern Wisconsin.
The Vikings led 2-0 entering the fifth inning in Game 1, only for senior reliever Lane Busser to allow four hits and a walk without recording an out. Everett Johnson came in to settle down Edgar, which scored six runs in the fifth an another in the sixth. Carter Ruegsegger opened the game for Pecatonica, throwing four no-hit, shutout innings and allowing just one walk with four strikeouts.
“Carter was good for his four innings,” Strommen said. “The story here was we walked nine batters in that six-run inning. They only had three hits in the game, but one was a three-run double in that big inning.”
Busser, Ruegsegger and Bo Hendrickson each had two RBIs at the dish for the Vikings.
In Game 2, Edger jumped out to a 7-3 lead after the fourth inning. This time, Pecatonica had a big inning that changed the course of the game, scoring nine runs in the sixth.
“It was a good bounce back,” Strommen said.
Colton Schraepfer was 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs, while Zander Drunker was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Dakota Doescher had a pair of runs batted in.
Busser started Game two and settled in more nicely, striking out two and allowing three runs on two hits and a walk. Hendrickson came on in relief and allowed four runs on four hits, two walks and two strikeouts in three innings. Hunter Enloe pitched a scoreless sixth inning, and Schraepfer closed the door in the seventh, striking out the side.
