Comets take game with Durant in 7th

TIPTON — The Durant Wildcat baseball season ended abruptly Saturday, July 13 in Tipton. The Wildcats fell 4-3 in extra innings to West Liberty. Durant ends the season 12-12. West Liberty advances with a record of 11-14. The Comets will play Mid-Prairie in the next round. The Wildcats snapped a six year win streak in postseason openers. The last time the Wildcats lost their rst postseason game was in the 2012 season. The Wildcats end the season losing their last two games. West Liberty has won three of its last four games.
 The winning hit came in the bottom of the eighth inning on a hit by Caleb Wulf. Will Esmoil reached on a hit. He promptly stole second and got to third base on a throwing error to get in scoring position. Wulf then hit the game-winning RBI single, scoring Esmoil.
 Durant scored the game’s first run of the game. Jake Willkomm reached on an error to lead o the game and advanced to second on an elder’s choice and took third on a wild pitch. Willkomm scored on a sacri ce y by Ben Orr to give Durant a 1-0 lead.
 West Liberty took the lead an inning later with two runs in the bottom of the second to set the score at 2-1. Durant tied the game at 2-2 with a single run in the top of the fourth. Nate Dierickx drove on Orr. Orr would single in Willkomm in the top of the fth inning to give Durant the lead back at 3-2. West Liberty would tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, setting the score at 3-3.
 Durant loaded the bases in the eighth after Orr and Lucas Callison were hit by pitches and Logan Callison reached base. However, none scored and the game went to the bottom of the eighth setting up Wulf’s game-winner.
A.J. Lenz started for West Liberty and pitched seven innings. He struck out 12 Wildcats and walked one. He gave up three runs on ve hits. Caleb Wulf was the winning pitcher after pitching a scoreless eighth inning. He struck out one and did not allow a hit.
 West Liberty had only three hits in the game. Wulf was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Will Esmoil had a hit, run and stolen base. Lenz and Drake Collins each reached base via a walk. Lenz and Caleb Sterbenz each had two stolen bases.
 Durant had ve hits in the game. Ben Orr led the Wild- cats o ense, going 2-for-2 with a run scored and 2 RBI’s. Jake Willkomm and Nate Dierickx each had hits in the game. Dierickx had an RBI and stolen base. Drew DeLong also had a stolen base. Nolan DeLong reached base via a walk.