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ON THE PROWL

Wildcats top Gaels, push win streak to 6

Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Jackson Kochendorfer connects for St. Edmond against Humboldt on Friday at Rogers Park. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

With the regular season winding down, St. Edmond head baseball coach Mike Szalat is preparing for tournament play.

Szalat put into play one situation he could use next week when the Gaels head to Algona for Class 1A district play, using pitchers Cael Kolacia, Peyton Scott and Jackson Kochendorfer against Humboldt at Rogers Park.

The Wildcats, who remain on the heels of Webster City in the North Central Conference race, picked up the 7-3 victory behind just one starter, Jacob Thurm.

Thurm, a junior, pitched all seven innings, striking out eight with three walks and six hits allowed to improve to 5-1 on the season.

“We’ve got options that we can use when it comes to trying to get 21 outs and earn a win,” Szalat said. “We’ve still got time to figure it all out, but we could use Cael, Peyton and Jackson and split the game up. Maybe we do that, maybe we don’t.”

Kolacia got the start, striking out six over three-plus innings before Scott came in. Scott — like Kolacia, a 10th-grader – struck out two over two-plus, and Kochendorfer, a senior, had a strikeout.

Thurm also supplied much of the offense, driving in two runs and stealing two bases. Caden Matson had a pair of RBI and Cade Witzke recorded a triple with an RBI for the Wildcats (17-8 overall, 9-2 in NCC), who have now won six in a row.

Joey Busse, a state champion wrestler this past winter for Humboldt, scored two more runs to give him 49 on the season — a mark that leads Class 3A and places him in the Top-5 in the state. Michael Brightly also scored twice.

“I’ve went back and looked at it, and for whatever reason it may be, we’ve faced the No. 1 and No. 2 pitcher on just about every NCC team this year,” Szalat said. “We’ve gone against some very good pitching and that is only going to help us in the postseason.”

Kolacia drove in two runs for the Gaels (6-12, 3-10), as Connor Bocken, Jack McEvoy and Jed Tracy each scored a run.

St. Edmond will close out the regular season back here on Monday for Senior Night vs. Iowa Falls-Alden. Humboldt still has league games with Clear Lake, Webster City and Algona on the docket.

HUMBOLDT 7, ST. EDMOND 3

Humboldt 021 012 0 — 7 5 2

St. Edmond 000 100 2 — 3 6 4

WP–Jacob Thurm (5-1, 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 8 K, 3 BB). LP–Cael Kolacia (2-3, 3ª IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 1 BB).

3B–H: Cade Witzke. RBI–H: Jacob Thurm (2), Cade Witzke, Caden Matson (2); SE: Cael Kolacia (2).

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