With just one 'K' to his credit in Bayfield's road win Tuesday, it's reasonable to assume Matthew Knickerbocker's fellow Wolverines left happy after stifling non-league Montezuma-Cortez, 16 runs to 2 in five innings.
"We got to play some defense today!" said head coach Jon Qualls. "I don't think we had an error.we played pretty well all the way around."
Knickerbocker, a junior, scattered five Panther hits in his four frames of work for the win, and sophomore Kelton McCoy then tossed a scoreless, hitless fifth to polish off BHS' ninth win this season.
"Matthew worked quickly," Qualls said, "got lots of ground balls.. He pitched well!"
Coming off an 18-1 assault of Aztec, N.M., last Saturday, Bayfield's bats were fine from 1 to 9 in the boss's order. Taed Heydinger went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in against M-CHS (5-9-1, 0-6 4A/5A Southwestern.) Both Trey Lange and Brody McGhehey hit likewise. Knickerbocker went 2-3 and plated three to help his own cause, as the Wolverines put up a dozen or more for a fourth consecutive game.
In Aztec, sophomore slugger Zane Phelps was 4-4, including a homer, with three ribbies in the five-inning rout. McCoy also hit 4-4, doubling twice and driving home two. Heydinger was 3-4 with two RBI, and Knickerbocker was 3-3 with one knocked in.
Lange earned the win against the Tigers (now 5-14, 0-1 Dist. 1-4A) by slinging four innings, allowing three hits and fanning four before being pulled in favor of Heydinger.
Up next for BHS (9-3, 2-0 3A Intermountain) will be their first home games of 2014, an IML doubleheader against Monte Vista (3-6, 1-3) starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.
