Pirates get first district win

The Kaplan Pirates (6-13, 1-2) baseball team were in search of their first district win, and with a 15-5 victory over the West St. Mary Wolfpack, now they are searching for that second district win.
“We played good defense,” Kaplan Head Coach Sam Taulli said. “We didn’t pitch as well as I would have liked, but we did a great job at the plate. We have been focusing on our hitting at practice and it’s starting to pay off.”
It took the Pirates a little bit of time to get going.
They scored one run in the bottom of the second inning to tie it at 1-1. This would be the last time the game was close.
The Pirates would then get the bats going in the third inning.
Slade Bouillion would drive in two runs in the third as part of a four run inning.
The bats would stay hot in the bottom of the fourth when the Pirates scored four more runs to up their lead to 9-1.
The Wolfpack would score four runs of their own in the top of the fifth to make the game 9-5.
The bottom of the fifth inning was the biggest inning for the Pirates. They would go on to score five runs in the bottom of the fifth, with the lion’s share of the runs coming from a Brady Mott three-run home run.
“We have been working on our pivot innings,” Taulli said. “Pivot innings define a baseball team, and anytime you let a team start creeping back in the game like we did in the fifth inning, and you can answer back, that’s huge.”
Bouillion and Mott led the way for the Pirates from the plate.
Bouillion went 4-for-4 with three singles and triple. He also managed to score four runs and drive in three runs.
Mott was 2-for-3 from the plate, with a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth, and a double in the fourth. He also drove in four runs and scored three times.
The Pirates will be back in action tonight when they travel to Baldwin to take on West St. Mary again.

Andy Bullard
Sports Editor