After getting outscored 28-9 in two previous losses to Salina this season, Verdigris baseball finally delivered payback — and did so in dramatic fashion.Trailing by six runs in the sixth inning Friday in the Haytown Classic at Inola High School, the Cardinals exploded for eight runs in a momentum-swinging rally that turned the game upside down. The biggest blow came off the bat of Ethan Hushbeck, whose two-run triple to center tied the game at 7 before Mac West and Ian Lane followed with back-to-back RBI hits to give Verdigris the lead for good.
The Cardinals went on to tack on four more runs in the seventh and complete a 13-7 comeback victory over the Wildcats.Verdigris opened the scoring in the first inning when Landon Wine stole home, but Salina responded with a four-run bottom half fueled by a two-RBI groundout from Jyce Glass and a pair of run-scoring plays from Cody Wheeler and Deagen Pickup.Micah Richards added two more runs for Salina in the fourth with a two-run single and later scored on a passed ball to make it 7-1, but the Wildcats’ offense stalled after that.
Boston Acosta walked in a run to start the Cardinals' sixth-inning rally, and Wine brought in two more with a single. Hushbeck’s triple leveled the score, West’s RBI triple gave Verdigris the lead and Lane and Hunter Attaway added insurance with run-scoring singles.In the seventh, the Cardinals added four more runs — two on a throwing error during an Ian Lane bunt, one on a Conner Stump RBI single an.
