Unity Baseball Awards Night

The Unity baseball awards night will be held Friday, July 7th at the Unity gym.  Families are very welcome.  The night will begin with an Ice Cream Social at 7:00.  Ice cream, bowls and utensils will be provided.  Please bring an ice cream topping to share with everyone.  At 7:30 to 8:00 we will hold the awards presentation. 

Coach Wilson

Aquin Game Rained Out

 Unity Wins a 14 Inning Game Against Galena Varsity  

The Unity Knights traveled to Galena to play the Pirates varsity team on a cold and windy day.  Each team had chances to win but Unity showed perseverance even after committing several errors in the field. 

 In the first inning both the Knights and the Pirates scored one run with each team sending five batters to the plate.  The Unity started with Eli Traum hitting a ball to left field and Alex Hoppe reach base on a fielder's choice.  Alex stole second and scored on Brady Wilson's single. Alex started as the Knights pitcher and struck out two in the inning. 

The second, third and fourth innings were scoreless by both teams.  In the top half of the fifth inning Alex took a base-on-balls while Brady and Eric Medenblik both singled allowing Alex to score.  The Knights held and Pirates scoreless in the fifth inning and the Knights were scoreless in their half of the sixth.  In the Pirates half of the sixth inning the first batter got on base with a base-on-balls and the second batter reach base with a Knights error.  The Knights made a pitching change in the inning.   The next three Pirate hitters reached base by putting the ball into play.  The Pirates were retired after scoring four runs in the inning.  

 Down 5 to 2 in the top of the seventh inning the Knights had three singles by Alex, Kyle Smith and Shawn Teglar.  Eric and Trevor Bickelhaupt got on base with base-on-balls.  In the inning the Knights scored 3 runs bringing the score even at 5.  The Pirates half of the seventh saw Eric pitching and a base runner reaching second.  The Pirates did not score as the runner was stranded at second.  This began the first of 7 extra innings.

  The eighth and ninth innings were scoreless.  In the tenth inning with two outs Eli and Alex both hit singles.  Brady then walked while Eric and Kyle hit singles.  This flurry of hitting and base running scored four runs putting the Knights up 9 to 5.  In the Pirates half of the tenth inning the first batter hit a single.  The second batter received a base-on-balls and was later picked off second.  The next batter hit into a ground out.  With the following batter hitting a single and then two base-on balls, Brady was brought in to pitch.  The pirates received another base-on-balls before the side was retired.  In the inning the Pirated got 4 runs evening up the score again.  In the twelfth inning the Knights first four hitters got on base with two singles and a double.  Two runs scored.  Once again the Pirates evened up the scored in their half of the twelfth inning. 

  The score was still even as the Knights entered the fourteenth inning.  Alex got on base with a base-on-balls and immediately stole second base.  With a three balls and one strike count, Brady hit a ball into deep center scoring Alex.  That was all the Knights could put on the scoreboard for the inning.  The Pirates' first batter hit a ball to Brady and was tagged out. The second batter got a base-on-balls while the third batter struck out on 5 pitches.  With two outs and a 0-1 count, the next batter hit a  ball to Alex at shortstop who threw to Eli at first for the final out.  The Knights finally ended the game with a 12 to 11 win.

Forreston Game Cancelled Due To Rain

Milledgeville Game Cancelled Due To Rain

Unity Knight's Bats Turn Cold With A Loss To River Ridge 0-2 

The afternoon was a great day for baseball as the Unity Knights traveled to River Ridge for a varsity game.  River Ridge threw a left hander that had the Knight hitters puzzled all game.  Struggling with only one hit the entire game, the Knights were swinging at the first pitch, swinging at poor pitches and taking third strikes.  It was an off day for the Unity hitters.

Unity stayed in the game with some good pitching and good defense.  Late in the game the Knight's defense showed signs of  stress committing three errors and allowing River Ridge to score two runs in the 6th inning.

 The Knights have work to do on our hitting which will be top priority in the practice sessions until we break out of the slump.  We can, and will,  play better!

Coach Wilson

 Unity Wins Another Game 

On a very warm and humid afternoon the Unity Knights played a baseball game against the Warren JV team.  Though the weather forecast was for severe storms during the game, there were no storms in sight and the sun was shinning.  The game started with Alex striking out the first three Warren batters.  This was a common occurrence as he had 16 strikeouts.  In the second inning Warren threatened to score with runners on second and third reaching base with base-on-balls and advancing on a wild pitch.  The second out of the inning came with a wild pitch getting past the Unity catcher, Brady.  With the runner from third trying to advance, Brady got to the ball and threw to Alex covering home plate.  The runner stopped half way down the base line and was caught in a rundown and finally being tagged out by Brady.  The first and third outs of the inning were strike outs.  Warren's third inning ended with three strike outs.  The fourth innings consisted of three strikes outs and two base-on-balls with no runners scoring.  In the fifth inning the first Warren batter reached base on a base-on-balls.  After steeling second and reaching third on a balk, the runner scored on an attempted  pick-off from Brady to our third baseman Zach.  The throw was low and went into right field allowing the runner to score.  The three outs in the inning were two strike outs and a ball hit back to Alex who threw the batter out to Eli at first base.  The sixth inning saw a base-on-balls and three strike outs.  In the seventh inning Eric came in to pitch.  After striking out the first two batters, there were two base-on-balls and two hit-by-pitches.  In the inning two runners scored with an errant throw to third from the catcher and an error by the pitcher. With Warren having the bases loaded  and two strikes on the batter, Eric threw an excellent curve ball freezing the batter while umpire called, "Strike Three."

 In the Knights half of the first inning we had a single by Alex, a double by Brady and a single by Eric.  Nathan took over as the courtesy runner for our catcher, Brady, throughout the game.  Alex scored on Brady's hit and Nathan scored on Eric's single.  With one out Kyle hit a fly ball to left-center and coach Wilson had Eric tag up from third base.  The outfielder threw a perfect ball to the catcher to tag Eric for the third out.  In the second inning the Knights went down in order with two strike outs and Zach hitting a ball to the second baseman for a ground out.  In the third inning with two outs Alex hit a ground ball to the centerfielder for a single.  Alex then took  second putting him in scoring position.  Brady then hit a double scoring Alex.  In the fourth and fifth innings the only person to reach base was Dalton with a single  Dalton was stranded on first.  In the sixth inning Brady started it off with a single to left field.  Eric hit a ball over the center fielders head scoring Nathan from first base.  Eric scored on a wild pitch. The next three batters struck out ending the Unity offense.

 The Knights scored five runs while holding Warren to three.  Though the Knights won the game there is work to be done.  Our hitting was limited to four players which indicates we have work to do to have everyone hit.  Our pitching was good enough to allow our opponents to no hits but we are waked too many hitters which increased our pitch count.  So we  have work to do.  But, we have another win!

 Go Knights,

Coach Wilson

 Knights Win 9 - 1 Over United

 The Unity Knights traveled to Alexis to play United JV for the second time this year.  The weather was excellent and the Knights began the game with Eli and Alex hitting the baseball and scoring for the Knights.  In the second inning the first two hitters, Katie and Dalton, got on base with Alex and Brady hitting singles scoring two runs.  The third inning the Knights only sent three batters to the plate due to a running error allowing a double play.  In the fourth inning Dalton started the game with a single and Alex hit a ball over the left field fence scoring two runs.  Brady then hit a single but was stranded on third base.  In the fifth inning the first two batters were put out on a ground ball and a fly ball.  Then with two outs Dalton hit a double, Eli a single, Alex a double and Brady a single.  During the inning two runs scored.  In the sixth inning Haley and Dalton hit singles but both were stranded on base.  In the 7th inning Matt reached base on an error by the United second baseman and scored when Kyle hit a ball to the third baseman who also committed a fielding error.  During the game the Knights scored 9 runs.

 The United team struggled against the Knights pitching.  Eric threw five innings striking out 12 and allowing no hits.  Brady came in the sixth inning and pitched two innings also allowing no hits.  During the 6th inning the  lead off hitter for United walked and scored on an infield ground ball which was thrown to first for an out.

 The Knights skills are improving as we continue to practice.

 Go Knights!

On a very rainy day the Unity Knights travelled to Cuba City, Wisconsin to play baseball.  Though it was raining almost the entire trip to Cuba City, the weather was good enough to play the entire 7 innings.  In the Knight’s half of the 1^st inning the first 2 batters went down in order.  Brady then stepped up to the plate and on a 1 and 1 count, hit a ball to the fence for a stand-up double.  However he was stranded there when the next batter hit a ground ball the Cuba City 3^rd baseman who threw to 1^st for the out.

 The Cuba City batters faced a very good pitcher in Alex Hoppe.  With his fast ball velocity and an occasional braking ball Alex struck out 16 batters, gave up 5 walks and allowed one hit.  It was a very impressive outing by Alex as he held Cuba City to no runs.

 The Knights went down in order in the 2^nd and sent 4 batters to the plate in the 3^rd .  With the score 0 – 0 the Knights began the 4^th inning with a walk by Brady who advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch.  Eric then singled sending Brady to 3^rd.  Eric advanced to 2nd on a passed ball which allowed Brady to score.  Eric then scored on a wild pitch.  Kyle and Jessi reached base on consecutive hit-by-pitch and both stole bases.  Katie walked to fill the bases with Knights.  However the Knights left the bases loaded with a strike out and ground out.  The Knights scored just 2 runs in the 4^th.

 In the 5^th inning the Knights failed to score.  In the 6^th inning Jessi began with a solid single.  In the inning Zach, Katie and Dalton walked and Eli reach base on a fielder’s choice.  Alex then hit a ball over the head of the shortstop for a 2 RBI single.  The knights scored 3 runs that inning.

 The 7^th inning the Knight’s first hitter flied out to the shortstop.  Kyle and Jessi both singled placing runners at 1^st and 2^nd.  The next Unity batter hit a sharp ground ball to the shortstop who started a 6-4-3 double play to end the Knight’s 7^th. 

 Eric came I to pitch the 7^th inning.  In the inning Cuba City had the bases loaded after the 1^st 2 batters struck out.  The last Cuba City batter went to a full count and struck out on a fast ball.

 Unity had just won their 3^rd game of the early season 5 - 0.  Go Knights!

Thursday's Game (3/30) With Families of Faith is Cancelled!

The Unity Knights baseball team played their second game tonight and "walked" away with a 15 - 14 win.  The key word in the above sentence is "walked"!  This was a game that neither team played well.  Unity walked 19 batters and our opponents walked 20.  I can honestly say I have never won a game when my team has allowed that many walks.  This shows a serious issue with our pitching staff.  One of our pitching goals is no three ball counts on our opponents.  In this game we  had 24.  Another game goal is to throw 100 or less pitches for the entire game.  In this game we threw 178.   Our highest priority must be to work on throwing strikes and allowing our players to field the baseball.

In the middle of the 6th inning we found ourselves down 8 - 3.  Then in the bottom of the 6th we had 15 hitters go to the plate.  This included 7 hits, 3 walks, 1 reach base on an error and 1 hit by pitch.  At the end of the inning the Knights found themselves up by 12 - 8.  In the top of the 7th Mercer County added 6 runs which included 2 hits and 6 walks making the score Mercer County by 14 and Unity 12.  The Knights then were very patient in their half of the inning taking 5 walks and scoring on a wild pitch.  The final score was 15 - 14.  A very long game lasting over 3 hours. 

The Unity Knights played our first game on a very nice, warm evening.  The United team had a 5 to 1 lead going into the bottom half of the 4th inning.  With 4 hits, three walks and a hit batter the Knights put multiple runs on the scoreboard.  The 6 run fourth inning allowed the Knights to take a 7 to 5 lead.  In the 6th inning the Knights added another 5 runs to compete the game with a 12 to 7 win.  Our first game and our first win of the season.  In the eyes of the coach, this game showed we have a lot to work to get done to remain competitive.  The first game nerves showed through in many areas of our team play.  One very positive outcome is we never gave up on the game even going into the 4th inning when we were behind by 4 runs.

The new pitching restrictions made our pitching interesting.  Our lack of control of our pitches caused us to throw many more pitches that we would like.  Our team goal it to throw 100 or less pitches in each game.  In this game we threw 178 pitches with include 18 walks.  We cannot continue to walk that many batters and expect to win games.  In this game our opponent walked11 of our batters which allowed us to put pressure on their team by running the bases well and moving those runners with hits.  The aggressive base running allow runs to be scored. 

Due to the new pitching restrictions we used 5 pitchers tonight.  Eric started the game and went 3 innings.  Then Dalton, Brady, Zach and Trevor came in to help with our 7 innings of pitching.  Though each of our pitchers were a very important part of our game it was good to see a first time pitcher, Trevor, come in the game and close it out for us.  As you can tell, with as many walks as we gave up tonight we have work to do on our control.

Great job tonight for the comeback team.

Coach Wilson

The second week of practice is complete and  in some cases the players are leaning new skill and others are honing those skills.  We have been able to practice outside only two of the 10 days.  Practicing indoors is very limiting for teaching the skills needed for playing competative baseball.  It is necessary to be outdoors, on a baseball field, to work on most of the skill sets.  Seeing fly balls and ground balls is an essential part of getting ready for the season.  Base running skills can only be accomplished when running of an infield.   Obviously we have only been able to do this for two days.

 Next week we do not have the gym available and with temperatures Monday thru Wednesday reaching a high of 36 degrees with snow, we will not get outside on a baseball field those days.  At this time I am not sure what we will do those days but I am still working to find somewhere to practice.  In the past we have used large parking lots, open fields, anywhere we can throw the baseball.  More to come on this!!!

Go Knights!

Coach Wilson 

Our 2017 Unity Christian Baseball Team

Haley Bickelhaupt  #10

Trevor Bickelhaupt  #2

Justin Hackbarth  #28

Dalton  Hlubek  #11

Nathan Hopkins  21

Alex Hoppe  #24

Eric Medenblik  #23

Jared Ready  #17

Kyle Smith  #5

Matt Shinkle  #15

Aidan Steinhauer  #22

Shawn Tegeler  #9

Eli Traum  #7

Jessi VanderEide  #30

Katie VanderEide  #25

J.T. Wiebenga  #19

Zac Wilbur  #4

Brady Wilson  #8