HS Baseball: Pirates Snap Skid with Rare No-Hit Victory Over Gladbrook-Reinbeck

By Chris Rueber

 Week 5 of the Hudson baseball season continued the Pirates’ headlong dive into the depths of the North Iowa Cedar League. The results, unfortunately, mirrored the disappointment of Week 4, but an odd twist to end Week 5 makes this an article worth reading all the way to the end.

Vs. Dike-New Hartford
The Pirates hosted Dike-New Hartford on Monday and faced one of the best pitchers in the conference, the Wolverines’ Gavin Gerbracht. The visitors immediately gave their ace a big cushion, scoring four times in the first inning. The Pirates went down in order in each of the first three innings and only threatened briefly in the fourth, when Caden Dlouhy singled and went to third on a double by Austin Schroeder.
The Wolverines kept stacking up the runs, adding one more in the second and eight in the fourth inning as the Pirates committed four errors and Dike-New Hartford pushed their lead to 13-0. They added one more for good measure in the fifth and won the game 14-1 in five innings. Hudson got its only run after Trey Wulf was hit by a pitch, used two walks to move to third, and scored on a wild pitch.

Gerbracht went the distance for DNH. He allowed only two hits and struck out 13 batters in a dominating performance.

Vs. Union
It was Hudson’s Senior Night last Tuesday as the Pirates honored their recent graduates, Brady Berg and Trey Wulf. Their opponent for the occasion: the Union Knights.

Another rough start doomed the Pirates’ chances right out of the gate, as Union pushed across three runs in the first inning. Sophomore Vincent Bergmeier weathered the storm on the mound for Hudson and kept the Knights’ offense at bay for the next three innings. The 3-0 score would hold until the top of the fifth.
The Pirates could do little against Union starter Ethan Winnike. Bergmeier came through with a single in the second inning, and Berg added one in the seventh. Those turned out to be the only two hits of the game for Hudson.
The Knights added on late, plating single runs in the fifth and seventh and coming through with two runs in the sixth. Bergmeier pitched six innings for the Pirates, and eighth-grader Jackson Steele worked the seventh. Winnike went the distance for Union, allowing two hits and striking out seven. Union defeated Hudson 7-0.

Vs. East Marshall
The only road trip of the week sent Hudson to East Marshall to face the Mustangs. A change of scenery did little to quell the Pirates’ recent spate of slow starts. East Marshall jumped all over Hudson, scoring four times in the first, once in the second, twice more in the third, and adding two more in the sixth. The Pirates managed just a single run, pushing Austin Schroeder across home plate in the fourth inning. Four Hudson batters scratched out singles: Blake Delagardelle, Hunter Coulson, Gavin Gunnarson, and Jackson Steele.
Landen Dougherty was the star of the game for East Marshall. He pitched all six innings and went 2-4 at the plate, driving in four runs. The Mustangs defeated the Pirates 11-1 in six innings.

Vs. Gladbrook-Reinbeck
Week 5 ended with a home game against Gladbrook-Reinbeck, which came to Hudson riding high after an upset victory over eighth-ranked Grundy Center the previous night.
Blake Delagardelle took the mound for Hudson as the Pirates tried to find a way to salvage something good from an otherwise cruddy week. The Rebels got a run in the top of the first to open the scoring, but Delagardelle kept Hudson in it all night.
The Pirates took the lead in the second inning. Austin Schroeder was hit by a pitch, and Hunter Coulson repeated the feat. Trey Wulf then laid down a sacrifice bunt to push the runners up to second and third. Preston Germain, running for Schroeder, scored on a wild pitch to even the score at one. Brady Berg lifted a fly ball to right that was deep enough to score Coulson on a sacrifice fly, and Hudson was on top 2-1.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck tied things back up at two in the fourth. The Rebels got four hits in the inning, but one runner was picked off, and Delagardelle struck out his fourth batter of the night with two runners on base to stop the rally at one run.
Hudson went back on top in the fourth. Coulson was hit by a pitch again. He stole second and third and scored on a Rebel error. It was 3-2 Pirates after four. The see-saw swung back in the Rebels’ half of the fifth. Gladbrook-Reinbeck tied the game at 3.
But Hudson was not done yet. Jackson Steele walked, stole second base, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. The Pirates went back on top when Steele ran home on another wild pitch, and Hudson took the lead 4-3.
Delagardelle set the Rebels down in order in the sixth, striking out two, and then he made the play of the game in the top of the seventh. With one out, leadoff batter Chad Gutknecht smoked a line drive back up the middle. Delagardelle got a glove on it, knocked it out of the air, picked it up, and threw it to first just in time to beat the speeding runner. A pop-up to first base ended the game. Hudson won it 4-3, but that’s only part of the story.
The Pirates were out-hit in the contest 7-0. That’s right. Hudson was no-hit, but it still managed to win the game. Rebel pitchers hit six Hudson batters, walked three more, and committed two errors. The Pirates never managed a hit against GR starter Kooper Larsen or reliever Devin Boldt.
Blake Delagardelle was terrific on the hill. He pitched all seven innings, struck out eight, and didn’t walk anyone. In addition, the sometimes-shaky Pirate defense limited itself to a single error.
By the time you read this, the regular season will be over for Hudson baseball, and the Pirates will be preparing for an opening-round district game on Friday against Aplington-Parkersburg. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at South Hardin High School in Eldora.
Come on out and cheer on the Pirates as they look to make some noise in the postseason.