Whitewater's baseball season ends in semifinals

While Whitewater rode a hot streak to the Class AAAA semifinals, their bats found holes and could do no wrong.

Tonight, the bats went cold.

Whitewater hosted Marist in a doubleheader starting Tuesday afternoon, losing the first game 4-3 and the second game 7-4.

Hayden Jordan got the start for the Wildcats in game one and went five and two-thirds of an inning, allowing six hits and three walks, while striking out seven and allowing three runs.

Marist got a run in the first and Whitewater tied the game 1-1 with an RBI double from Alex Liquori in the fourth. The War Eagles added two more in the fifth and one more in the sixth after Garrett Knowles cut Marist’s lead to one with an RBI double. Jeffrey Ashley (2-for- 3 at the plate) brought the crowd to its feet with a lead off home run in the bottom of the seventh, but Whitewater couldn’t get another run home.

Marist got three runs in the bottom of the second of game two and two more in the bottom of the fourth, after an RBI single from Justin Toro (2-for-3 with a stolen base). Marist added one in the fifth but Whitewater wasn’t done. Ashley drove in two more runs with a single and Liquori added another, making the score 6-4. The War Eagles got one more and held Whitewater in check in the top of the seventh.

“We just didn’t get the big hits tonight,” said Whitewater head coach Bobby Gatlin after the game. “The boys played hard. I’m proud of them. We started the season 5-4 and weren’t sure what we were going to be and we won the region and made the state semifinals.” Gatlin praised his seniors and their work ethic. The Wildcats will return several players from this year’s squad and Gatlin believes they have a good foundation for the future.