Dragons, Warriors maintain division leads

STE. GENEVIEVE — Catcher Tyler Thomure highlighted a huge day at the plate with a three-run homer, and the Ste. Genevieve baseball team kept pace with Farmington atop the MAAA Large-School standings on Thursday with a 12-2 rout against Potosi.

Thomure went deep in the second inning and also added a triple to finish 3-for-3 with five RBI, elevating his batting average to .529 on the season. Sean Steagall went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored for the Dragons.

Caleb Whitworth scattered four hits and yielded one earned run over five innings for the win. Whitworth recorded eight strikeouts and no walks while adding a triple and three RBI at the plate.

Lead-off man Aaron Wehner had hits and scored two runs, while Cody Schmelzle and Jeremy Vaeth each added singles for the Dragons (7-3). Zach Basler walked twice and chipped in a sacrifice fly.

Landon Young collected a double and single in defeat for Potosi (4-6). Andy Reed and Tanner Glore also picked up hits.

Valle 16, Arcadia Valley 4

IRONTON — The Valle Warriors broke open a close game by scoring 10 runs in the fifth innings, and improved to a perfect 7-0 in conference play on Tuesday with a 16-4 triumph at Arcadia Valley.

Michael Ramer pitched all five innings with one earned run and five hits allowed, recording four strikeouts while walking none for the win. Nathan Geile and Aaron Basler each went 2-for-3 with three RBI to lead the Valle offense.

Casey Koller had two hits with three RBI and three runs scored, Brandon Wolk finished 2-for-3 with a double, and Cole Bieser added two singles for the Warriors (8-3). Nolan Carrow chipped in a RBI double, while Luke Uding and Derek Koller added RBI singles off the bench.

Luch Laird smacked two doubles to pace the Tigers at the plate. Thomas Jackson, Chris Robbs and Alex Krupp added singles.

North County 6, Fredericktown 0

FREDERICKTOWN — Pitcher John Wigger limited the Fredericktown offense to just five hits in a complete-game shutout, as North County coasted to a 6-0 conference road win on Tuesday.

Wigger recorded 10 strikeouts while walking only two, and the North County defense committed no errors behind him. The Raiders (10-2) never looked back after tallying two runs in the first inning.

Derek Gibson increased the lead with a three-run homer in the third, and finished the day 2-for-3 with four RBI, while Matt Robinson was a perfect 3-for-3 with two doubles from the lead-off spot. Nick Howlett added two hits and Will Swofford doubled for the Raiders.

Logan Stevens also ripped two doubles while going 3-for-3 to lead the Blackcats (5-6). Eli Skaggs and Matt Smallen had the only other hits for Fredericktown with Skaggs pitching three innings in the loss.

West County 6, Kingston 4

CADET — The West County Bulldogs pushed across two critical runs in the sixth inning, and squeezed past Kingston 6-4 on Tuesday to increase their unbeaten streak to eight games.

Tyler Stacy finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored, and Kyle Nettles drilled a two-run shot for his third home run of the season. The Bulldogs (8-1-1) picked up RBI hits from Jake Gidden, Dustyn Dowd and Ethan Sitton, while Brad Hopkins also singled.

Sophomore Trevor Kean struck out five and worked a complete game for the win, allowing one earned run. Brad Merseal fanned 12 batters over seven innings, and surrendered two earned runs in a hard-luck loss for the Cougars.

Kingston (3-4) was led offensively by Aaron Ross, who went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI. Nathan Boyer added a RBI single, and Tylor Nunez, Shawn Henry and Merseal also had hits.

Valley 6, Bismarck 3

BISMARCK — The Valley Vikings rallied from a three-run deficit during the late innings, and snapped a five-game losing skid on Tuesday with a 6-3 conference victory at Bismarck.

Josh Akers allowed no earned runs on three hits and struck out nine for the complete-game win, while collecting two RBI on a single and sacrifice fly. Matt Owens paced the Vikings (4-6) by going 2-for-3 with a RBI.

Valley also had a RBI double from Logan Midgett, and singles by Joe Fahland and Jacob Kearns.

Bismarck (2-6) jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third inning following hits from Robbie Eichelberger, D.J. McCarty and T.J. Halbert. Starter Levi Barton struck out six batters through four innings, but settled for a no-decision.