Comets beat Williams Bay, Union Grove, Clinton
By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
After starting the 2015 season 0-2, the Delavan-Darien Comets’ baseball team had a busy second week, playing five games in six days.
From April 13 to Sunday, the Comets took advantage of the tough stretch, going 4-1 in those games, pushing their overall record to 4-3.
Delavan-Darien got their offense rolling April 13 against the Williams Bay Bulldogs to start the week, winning 17-6. Through three innings, the Bulldogs had their way, leading 6-2. Once the fourth inning came around, the Comets’ bats started coming through, forcing key pitching changes to take place.
Comets head coach Paul Yanko said he liked how his offense came through and forced the Bulldogs to make those changes.
“It’s good to get that first win under our belts,” Yanko said. “We just kind of put balls in play. Nothing was hit hard, but we just made plays and eventually they ran out of pitching.”
The 10-run fourth inning was started by a wild pitch, and then the RBI singles started pouring in. Sophomore Jacob Benzing got things going with his three-run single, followed by senior Samuel Seitz’s two-run single, which was then followed by junior Roman Gonzalez’s two-run single. Two RBI doubles finished the scoring that inning for the Comets, coming from juniors Jacob Klewin and Gage Wuttke.
After leading 12-6 through four, the Comets added five runs in the fifth to conclude the team’s highest offensive outing of the early season.
Following the team’s 17-run effort, the Comets then hit the road the very next day to Union Grove and fell short, 4-2. The Broncos scored each of their four runs in the fifth inning, coming off an error, sacrifice fly and two singles.
Seitz went five innings in the game, only allowing four hits, but the four runs were all the Broncos needed in the first matchup between the two teams.
Two days later, Delavan-Darien had a chance at revenge against the Broncos, this time coming on their home field. This time around, both offenses got going, totaling 20 hits and 17 runs. Despite allowing 10 hits and walking nine batters, the Comets got 10 hits of their own and won the game, 9-8.
Four Comets had two-hit games in the contest, but sophomore Ethan Cesarz put up the best game statistically, going two for four at the plate and knocking in four runs.
The game went back and forth for the most part, starting with the Comets’ 5-0 lead after two innings. The Broncos then answered with five runs of their own, tying the game through four. The sixth inning proved to be the most crucial, as after the Broncos took the lead by scoring two more, the Comets answered with four of their own, taking the lead, 9-7, heading into the seventh inning.
Union Grove mustered up one run, but needed two in the final inning to tie, so the two teams split the two games during the week. Following the Union Grove games, Delavan-Darien had a doubleheader remaining in the week against a non-conference foe in the Clinton Cougars.
The Comets might not have been too familiar with the Cougars coming in, but after the two-game set Saturday, Yanko’s team now has a winning record for the first time this season. In the first game, the Comets’ offense continued to click, putting up 11 hits, this time scoring eight runs.
Benzing continued his hot week, getting four RBIs in the Comets’ 8-4 win. In the second game of the doubleheader, everything went the Comets’ way.
Delavan-Darien scored 10 runs on nine hits offensively in a 10-0 shutout in five innings. No player had more than two RBIs in the team’s fourth victory of the season, but eight players reached base safely.
Defensively, the Comets had zero errors in the game and only allowed three hits. Senior Isiah Ramos pitched four innings, allowing only two hits, while Gonzalez finished things out on the mound in the fifth inning.
Yanko said the team right now is strong defensively and has a lot of pitching depth.
“The bats will come around,” Yanko said. “We’ve got six or seven quality arms. We have five seniors, but we have two juniors and two sophomores with a couple freshmen who will be up and down throughout the season. We’re definitely not a veteran team, but we’re probably about half and half.”
After the Comets’ 4-1 week, pushing their record above .500 at 4-3 overall, the team has three conference games this week, one against Badger High School and two against Burlington High School.
