Northeast Nodaway's baseball team set a school record with six home runs as they beat winless North Nodaway 12-2 in six innings Wednesday night. Both teams showed rust from a long layoff; NEN had not played for over a week due to inclement weather and FFA commitments. But the Bluejays recovered much better from the layoff and beat the Mustangs to go to 2-1 in the Northwest Missouri Baseball Conference. South Nodaway avenged their loss to East Atchison and kept the heat on Northeast with a 10-0 win over the Wolves Tuesday.
The Bluejays killed a potential big rally for the Mustangs in the top of the first as Max Giesken caught a carom off pitcher Andrew Freemyer's glove and threw to first to take a hit away from Dakota Smyser. North Nodaway, which had played South Nodaway tough in a loss earlier this year, put Koby Reynolds, their best pitcher, on the mound to face Northeast. But NEN Coach Vance Proffitt successfully sent his runners early and often against the Mustangs. Max Giesken, who hit the first Longhorn pitch out of the yard in Northeast's 4-1 win over South Nodaway, hit Reynolds' first pitch down the left field line for a single in the bottom of the first. He stole second and then took third and home on wild pitches to put Northeast up 1-0. Andrew Faustlin followed with another tally when he stole third and took home on a wild throw into left field to make it 2-0.
From there, it was a fireworks show as the Bluejays showed the kind of power that they were capable of as Andrew Freemyer hit the first of two home runs for Northeast, scoring Rowdy West, over the left field scoreboard. That put them up 4-0 after one. Max Giesken's home run, off the center fielder's glove and over the fence, opened the floodgates; it was his second of the year. Garet Jackson followed by whistling one past the left field light pole to put Northeast up 6-0 after two.
Peyton Coleman put North Nodaway on the board by stealing third and coming home on catcher Andrew Faustlin's throwing error, but the fireworks continued as Faustlin atoned for his miscue by hitting a home run which barely cleared the center field wall, scoring Garet Jackson, who was also on base. Rowdy West followed with the longest shot of the night, a tape measure shot that cleared the center field pole and finished Reynolds. Kendrick Calfee came in to pitch for North Nodaway, but Andrew Freemyer greeted him with his second home run of the afternoon over the center field fence to put Northeast up 10-1 after four.
The Bluejays had a chance to end it in five on the ten run rule after Andrew Freemyer picked a runner off first to snuff out a Mustang threat in the top of the fifth, but Garet Jackson was thrown out at the plate as North Nodaway barely kept the game alive.
Andrew Freemyer, bidding to throw the second no-hitter in school history after Andrew Faustlin, saw his effort broken up in the sixth as Smyser broke up his bid to start the sixth. After giving up another single to Reynolds and hitting Ben Hart to load the bases with nobody out, he was finished and Max Giesken came on to try and stop the bleeding. Calfee hit one in the hole that shortstop Garet Jackson got to, but didn't have a play on as Smyser scored to make it 10-2. Giesken continued to fight the strike zone, getting behind 3-0 to August Hoepker, the littlest man on the team for North Nodaway; Hoepker had walked every single time batting against Freemyer. But Giesken came back to strike him out and was in control the rest of the inning, masterfully changing speeds on Tyler Philpott and Wyatt Tate and striking them out to end the inning with no further damage.
Calfee started off the sixth in good shape by getting an out, walking Korey Adwell, but getting Dalton Auffert to ground into a force at second. But with two out and Northeast's #9 hitter, Brayden Welch, at the plate, Calfee grazed Welch on the helmet with two strikes on him to revive Northeast and bring the top of the order. Giesken and Jackson walked to force in a run and then Andrew Faustlin hit a slow roller into the hole at short and beat out the throw to end the game by the 10 run rule.
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