HS Baseball: Rain-shortened week leaves Hudson facing pivotal stretch of conference play

By Chris Rueber 

Week 3 of the Hudson baseball season was trimmed in half due to rainouts on Monday and Thursday, leaving the Pirates with only a couple of road games in the middle of the week.

Vs. West Branch
On Tuesday, the Pirates traveled to West Branch, hometown of Iowa’s only U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, who many historians blame for pushing the country into the Great Depression. The Pirates, having just come out of a Great Depression of their own (a nearly 700-day losing streak), were eager to take their brand-new two-game winning streak out for a spin to see what it could do.
Hudson started hot. Jackson Nesteby singled in the top of the first inning, stole second and third, and scored on a grounder up the middle by Austin Schroeder. The Pirates took a 1-0 lead.
Blake Delagardelle got the start on the mound for Hudson, and the Bears stung him for one run in their half of the first. It was 1-1 after one.
Trey Wulf got things going for the Pirates in the second. He singled and was joined on the basepaths by Brady Berg, who walked, and Jackson Steele, who hit a single to load the bases. Caden Dlouhy worked a walk to force in a run, and the Pirates went back on top 2-1.
The Bears tied it up in their half of the second, scoring on a walk, a stolen base and a Hudson error. It was 2-2 after two.
Hudson loaded the bases again in the third inning. Hunter Coulson smacked a single, Delagardelle was hit by a pitch and Wulf walked. Berg was up next, and his swinging bunt was perfectly placed, leaving the Bears with no play and putting the Pirates back on top 3-2. Gavin Gunnarson continued the offensive avalanche with a two-run double, but that would end the scoring for Hudson in the third.
West Branch kept answering the bell. The Bears tied the game at 5-5 on a home run, chasing Delagardelle and bringing Steele to the mound for Hudson. He ended the threat with a single pitch and sent the Pirates back on offense.
In the fourth, Nesteby singled, Coulson was hit by a pitch and Schroeder reached base on a throwing error after a sacrifice bunt. With the bases loaded for the third time in as many innings, Wulf came through with a bloop single, scoring two. Hudson went back on top 7-5.
The Bears chipped away at the lead, scoring one run in the fourth. In the fifth, they forced three walks in a row to load the bases, chasing Steele. Berg, the new pitcher, got West Branch to hit a sacrifice fly and a pop-up, then got some help from Schroeder, the catcher, who threw behind an adventurous West Branch baserunner to get the final out at third. Hudson and West Branch were all tied up at 7-7 heading to the sixth.
There was no action in the sixth, so we go to the seventh, where Hudson got back-to-back walks from Steele and Dlouhy. Nesteby continued his big night with a single to center, scoring Steele and putting Hudson back on top 8-7.
The Bears made it interesting in their half of the seventh with a double and a hit batter, but Berg slammed the door for Hudson, keeping West Branch off the board and giving the Pirates their third win in a row while evening their season record at 3-3.

Vs. Wapsie Valley
The very next night, the Pirates loaded up the bus and headed out of town to face conference rival Wapsie Valley. This particular patch of ground has been a house of horrors for Hudson baseball over the last several years, and this night would continue that trend. (Cue the spooky organ music and the fog machine.)
Wapsie jumped on the Pirates right away, scoring four times in the first inning. They took advantage of two errors and four walks and scored all four runs on only one hit.
Hudson got on the board in the second when Delagardelle singled, and three consecutive walks to Wulf, Gunnarson and Steele forced in a run. The Pirates added one more in the third. Nesteby walked, Schroeder reached base on a swinging bunt, Delagardelle walked, and Wulf walked, scoring Nesteby. It was 4-2 Wapsie Valley after three innings.
The Warriors made a pitching change, and Landen Moulds was a problem for Hudson. After entering the game, he struck out eight batters in a row, and when Wapsie Valley added four more runs in the fifth inning, the game was essentially out of reach.
Hudson made one final push in the sixth inning. Wulf walked, Gunnarson singled and Steele walked to load the bases. Nesteby singled to left, driving in Hudson’s final run of the game.
In the end, the Pirates couldn’t overcome the early mistakes, had no answer for Moulds, and fell to the Warriors 8-3.
The loss ended Hudson’s three-game winning streak and sets the stage for a very important stretch of games. One of the Week 3 rainouts has been tacked on to the end of Week 4, meaning the Pirates will play five days in a row and will need to nurse a young, thin pitching staff through 35 innings of work.
The week ahead will play a large role in determining whether Hudson has anything to say about the conference race in the NICL and could be a turning point for the entire season.

Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. Baseball season is heating up!