It was a great performance from seniors Joey Wise and Brady Price this past Monday, as the varsity baseball team won its first game of the season against East Kentwood 10-2. The Rangers had a great performance on the defensive side of the diamond, holding the dynamic Falcon offense to just two runs.

“Each pitcher threw well and was efficient,” head coach Todd Hartman said. “They didn’t allow any of the batters they faced to get into a deep count. It was good to see some of the new players out there as well for the first time.”

After spending a long time away from the field, baseball was finally back for Ranger Country. It was an exciting game to be at for any FHC fans. 

The game started off pretty quick in the top of the first, as senior Aidan O’Meara got hit by a pitch. That would send him to first and after a wild pitch, while Brady was at the plate, Aidan moved up to second. Shortly after the errant pitch, Brady drove in Aidan with an RBI single and gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead. 

On the mound to start was Joey Wise. He pitched two innings and had three strikeouts in his first start of the year. The defense would back him up, as Aidan and fellow senior Maguire Mahacek would be a key part of putting outs on the board.

After a couple of more runs came in off of wild pitches, FHC turned towards Brady Price to get more great innings of pitching on the mound. He struck out two batters in two innings, while only giving up a run. The lead kept increasing for the Rangers through their base running, which they used to tally up seven of their ten total runs.

Once Brady got his innings in, junior Josh Smith stepped up to the mound to face the heart of the Falcons’ order. While only giving up a run, he was able to go 1 ⅔ innings while striking out a batter. As Josh was getting to the finish line of his day on the mound, the offense kept rolling with Brady and fellow senior Nathan Sigg getting hits and a couple of RBIs each to bring the lead to 10-2.

As the bottom of the sixth came around, Hartman decided to pull the righty in Josh and go for a new look in junior lefty Matthew Mittelstadt. Matthew gave FHC some of its best pitching all game as he got four outs, with two of those batters striking out. He put the game away in the bottom of the seventh, as the Rangers took home their first win of the season 10-2.

“It was fun to be out there,” Matthew said, “we haven’t played in two years, and it felt good to get a win going into the break.”

The Rangers squad is now 1-0, and after a two-week hiatus for spring break, they will be back in action on Wednesday, April 14th at 4:15 PM. The team will face off against Greenville at FHC in its first double-header of the season.