April 27, 2021 – Slinger, WI – In the first baseball game played in over 700 days for the Slinger Owls, the team gave its home crowd every reason to cheer pulling off a strong win over Oshkosh West, 11 – 6.
Early on it was not looking like a victory as Slinger fell behind the visiting Wildcats 2-0 after the first inning and just barely escaped further damage on several occasions in subsequent innings before allowing three more runs in the fifth inning.
Despite entering the fifth inning down 5-2, the Owls pulled off a massive eight-run inning, highlighted by senior Cade Neuber’s three-run homer.
Neuber went 4 for 4 at the plate with a double and a stolen base to go along with his home run and three RBIs.
The Owls finished the game with 12 hits as a team. This game definitely showed the rust both teams, (and one could probably assume most teams across the state) have in regard to fielding and errors.
In fact, at least half of the runs scored in this game were a result of mistimed throws or missed catches/reactions, something that will be ironed out as the season progresses, but the first few games are going to be very interesting to watch from a defensive perspective.
Pitching wise, Drew Fehrmer earned the win for the Owls with three innings of work, including two strikeouts, one walk, four hits allowed, and three runs (all earned).
Jonah Bera was the starting pitch for Slinger and threw three innings, notching four strikeouts, whilst giving up one walk, six hits, and two runs (both earned).
Slinger starts the season on a high note and will continue the opening week of the season at home taking on Homestead Thursday at 5 p.m.
Oshkosh West leaves the non-conference matchup against Slinger with hopes to rebound at home on Thursday against Green Bay Southwest at 5 p.m.