SME Baseball Defeats Blue Valley Northwest 13-2

Varsity baseball defeated the Blue Valley Northwest Huskies 13-2 on Saturday at the Blue Valley District Complex. This was SME’s tenth game, increasing their overall record to 8-2, and giving the Huskies their second loss with a record of 2-4-2.

East was favored to win, as they are currently ranked 3rd in the state and 425th in the nation, having won the state title last season. And the Huskies are not ranked.

The nonconference game was ultimately an easy win for East, with their breakout innings being the second and fourth. East scored six runs in the second and four in the fourth, while not allowing any runs from BVN.

“They weren’t a bad team and we spread them, so it really shows we can honestly beat any team pretty badly,” said senior designated hitter Cameron Fritz. “And in terms of state seating it is important to win every game we can to get No. 1 seed for regionals.”

Seniors Ryan Stubbers and Henry Miller were the two pitchers for East. Stubbers closed with a solid 3.40 ERA, and they combined for 5 strikeouts, allowing a mere 2 runs in the game.

“Henry Miller threw very well that game and even though our offense chunked the third and fourth inning, he kept us in it and definitely did not let the game get out of hand in any way.,” said Fritz. “Then Ryan Stubbers came in and didn’t give up any runs and held it to make sure we got the spread.”

East performed extremely well at bat, evident by the score, with a team average of .484. Senior Zeb Vermillion performed best on the plate with three runs, three hits and one RBI at only three at bats.

“As a team, we combined for 15 hits in five innings, and I went for three for three with a couple singles and a triple,” said Vermillion. “Our bats were on fire.”

On to fielding, East played uncharacteristically and had some weird errors, according to Fritz. But, overall East’s solid defense was shown despite the small mistakes. With only two errors, East’s overall fielding percentage was .900.

East’s next game is today at East against Olathe South at 4:15 p.m. Although East lost to South last year, they are expected to win the conference game, with Olathe South currently having a losing record of 3-6.