By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
ROSSFORD — Collin Wendt paced an offensive onslaught for the Otsego baseball team on Wednesday, helping the Knights pick up a 13-3 victory on the road over Rossford in five innings.
The Knights, who racked up 10 hits while producing five runs in the first and eight in the third, tallied 13 total bases and delivered three extra base hits.
“It was good to come back and swing the bats well,” Otsego coach Chase Welker said. “We’ve struggled the past couple games. It’s good to see them bounce back and get a good win today. Hopefully the bats are waking up, and we’ll be able to break out a little bit.”
Bodde Simon got Otsego going in the first with an RBI double to right. Wendt tacked on a two-run single before an RBI single from Easton Jeremy closed the five-run inning.
Rossford responded with a run in the home half. Logan Walder led off with a single and hustled around to third on a groundout to third in the next at. He then scored on a wild pitch.
After holding the Knights scoreless in the top of the second, Rossford added two more runs in the home half as Walder struck again. The senior hit a line drive to left that scored Jackson Yerkes and Ronnie Hawkins to pull the Bulldogs within two.
Otsego (11-7, 4-4 NBC) took full control in the third, pushing across eight for a 10-run lead. Wendt produced the first run on an RBI single to right. An error pushed across the next run, and leadoff hitter Tyler O’Brien drove home two more with a single to center.
“They threw it right down the middle, and I like to jump on the first pitch I see, so that was a plus,” Wendt said. “We stayed up the whole time. We struggled doing that recently, but we stayed up the whole time today.”
After a pitching change, Otsego scored three more on an RBI single from Jaxon Jeremy, a wild pitch and another RBI single from Wendt.
“You can’t let anybody put five and eight on the board in separate innings,” Rossford coach Marc Diels said. “It’s just a tough hole to dig out of. Otsego came out swinging right from the start, and when we did get an opportunity to play defense, we didn’t handle it very well. We just didn’t play very good baseball today.”
Wendt finished 3-for-3 with four RBI, two runs and a double, while O’Brien was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs, two stolen bases and two RBI. Danny Shanahan drew three walks and scored twice, and Keegan Mentrek knocked in two runs.
“We’ve seen (Rossford pitcher Jackson) Yerkes a number of times, so we had a game plan coming in for how he was going to throw our guys,” Welker said. “We stuck to that game plan and got the result we were looking for.”
On the mound, Cohen Feehan went the distance for Otsego, striking out five while allowing six hits, three runs and a pair of walks.
“He had consistency,” Welker said. “He attacked the zone. He let his defense play behind him. I thought he did a great job staying in the zone, letting Rossford get themselves out by putting the ball in play and letting his defense work behind him.”
Rossford (7-7, 3-4 NBC) was led offensively by Walder and Drew Knorek, who combined to hit 4-for-5 with a two RBI and a run. Yerkes and Hawkins also tallied one hit and one run apiece.
