BLANCHARDVILLE — With the field in South Wayne too damp, Black Hawk hosted Pecatonica — at Pecatonica’s home field at McKellar Park May 7.

The Vikings, playing on the scoreboard as the visitor, had no problem pulling out a 13-0 win in six innings over the Warriors.

“We left a lot of guys on base. I thought we could have had some better quality at bats,” Pecatonica coach Jim Strommen said. “But we can’t always be the greatest. We need to be sharper when you have guys at second and third and one out. You have to score there.”

Pecatonica scored three runs in the top of the first inning and added three more in the third. It wasn’t until a big 7-run sixth that finally put the game away.

“We didn’t hit the ball that well, but we did what we had to do,” Strommen said. That meant some small ball in the sixth, with a hit and run RBI single by Bo Hendrickson and a perfectly laid bunt single up the first base line by Dakota Doescher.

The two programs are on the opposite end of the spectrum this season. Pecatonica, one of the state’s top programs for the last three-plus decades is ready to ride its senior horses to the promised land in a couple of weeks. Black Hawk, meanwhile, is still trying to build the foundations of a winning program.

“We have a lot of youth and inexperience. We’re trying to learn the game — the intricacies of the game on the run,” said Black Hawk coach Scott Cernek, who returned to his alma mater last year after more than two decades running a successful program in Clinton. “We want it to be second nature and not something where they have to think too hard.”

Carter Ruegsegger was lights out for Pecatonica. The senior ace threw four perfect innings with five strikeouts on just 39 pitches. Lane Busser came in and walked three batters in the fifth, but escaped without allowing a run. A two-out single by Jayden Stietz in the sixth against Everett Johnson wrecked the combined no-hit bid.

“Carter was pounding the strike zone for us. He was very, very efficient for us,” Strommen said. “Our pitching was excellent for us, and that’s where you start.”

At the plate, Ruegsegger, Everett Johnson and Colton Schraepfer all doubled for the Vikings. Pecatonica also stole 10 bases, with Bo Hendrickson swiping three.

Hendrickson and Ruegsegger each had three hits, while Zander Brunker was 2 for 5. Hendrickson drove in four runs.

Stietz started on the mound for the Warriors and tossed 75 pitches in four innings. He allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Cayden Milz came in for 1.1 innings, walked five batters, hit two, allowed a pair of hits and gave up six runs with three strikeouts. Dempsey Schliem tossed the final 2/3 of an inning for Black Hawk, allowing a walk, a hit and an earned run.

“We battle teams early in games and then we have a bad inning where we give up extra bases that hurt us,” Cernek said. “We’re just trying to compete for seven innings.”

Many of Black Hawk’s players are playing out of position. Cernek said he is even using players at catcher that have never caught before.

“We’re throwing them in there,” Cernek said. “I tell them to be coachable and don’t give up on the little things. The mechanics of your positioning on defense. The mechanics of your swing, getting your barrel to the ball. Offensively, we’re looking for that spark. Hitting is contagious, but so is not hitting.”

The Vikings (15-1, 9-0 Six Rivers) are currently the third-ranked team in the state and were scheduled to square off against fourth-ranked Shullsburg-Benton May 10. 

Pecatonica 9, Monticello-Albany 4

BLANCHARDVILLE — The Vikings had to rally from an early deficit to knock off the Ponies May 6.

Monticello-Albany got up 3-0 after the first inning against freshman Hunter Enloe.

“Hunter did a great job settling down after that first inning,” Strommen said.

Enloe went 5.2 innings, allowing seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Colton Schraepfer pitched an inning of relief, striking out three, and Lane Busser got the final out.

Pecatonica tied the game in the bottom of the third and then scored four runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to take a commanding six run lead.

Brunker was 3 for 3 at the plate, while Schraepfer finished 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Busser was 1 for 3 with a walk, a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. Enloe was 1 for 2 with a walk, two runs and two RBIs.

Monticello-Albany’s Josh Dahl, Luke Johnson and Andrew Eyler all had two hits.

Corbin Kelly started for the Ponies and allowed an earned run on a walk in 1.2 innings of work. Trayden Foster relieved for 1.1 innings, allowing two hits and two walks and four runs to score. Dahl threw an inning, Kollin Klitzke 2/3 of an inning and Tyler Anderson 1.1 innings for Monticello-Albany. 

Cuba City 7, Black Hawk 1

CUBA CITY — A 6-run fifth inning doomed the Warriors May 6 in a nonconference road game.

After tying the score at 1 in the top of the fifth, the bullpen came up short for the Warriors. Jexen Stietz, the second Black Hawk pitcher in the game, struggled in the fifth and Rece Shelton came in to try to slow down the inning, but couldn’t do so. Dempsey Schliem got the final out of the fifth and finished the sixth, all in just 10 pitches.

Thatcher Schliem started on the mound for Black Hawk, pitching 2.1 innings and scattering four hits and two walks, allowing one unearned run to score. Jexen Stietz took over in the third, but finished with four earned runs allowed on five hits in two innings of work. Shelton allowed two earned runs to score on two hits and three walks in 1/3 of an inning.