Leopold baseball team advances to first-ever state quarterfinal

The offense that Leopold coach James Lewis patiently awaited in his team's Class 1 sectional baseball game against Bakersfield arrived in bulk Monday.

The Wildcats padded a two-run lead with an eight-run outburst that enacted the mercy rule after five innings and sent Leopold into the quarterfinal round for the first time in school history.

Cameron Davis' second RBI single of the fifth inning sealed the 10-0 victory for the Wildcats, who were the home team in a game played in Bakersfield, Missouri.

Leopold pitcher Austin Bucher had limited Bakersfield to two hits and struck out seven batters over the first five innings.

He had helped himself with a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning after the Wildcats had scored a run on a dropped popup in the second inning.

"Austin was really pitching well," Leopold coach James Lewis said. "It was close in score, 2-0, but he was really dominating their hitting. It was just a matter of time. I was hoping we'd be able to start swinging the bats against their pitcher and have a good inning at some point, and we ended up having a real big inning. I was tickled to death."

The Wildcats' game-ending eruption started with five consecutive hits. Davis provided the first run with the first of his two singles in the inning, and Graham followed with a two-run double -- one of two doubles he had in the game -- for a 5-0 lead.

Two outs were obtained in a space of three batters, but they were followed by two hits, a hit batsman and Davis' game-ending single.

Garrett Thele and Dillan Vandeven, who had a team-high three hits, each added a double for Leopold. Thele, Casey Graham, Davis and Bucher all finished with two hits apiece. Bucher finished with three RBIs.

It was Bucher's first outing since throwing a no-hitter against Valley of Caledonia in the district semifinals.

He issued just one walk and hit one batter in holding Bakersfield (19-9) scoreless.

"His fastball was working really well and the curveball was even better," Lewis said. "He was really on today."

Leopold (9-10) will host Cooter in the quarterfinal round Wednesday.

"It's uncharted territory for us," Lewis said. "We'll try to ride it as long as we can."

Bakersfield 000 00 -- 0 2 3

Leopold 010 18 -- 10 12 0

WP -- Austin Bucher (5-1). LP -- Marsh. 2B -- Garrett Thele (L), Casey Graham 2 (L), Dillan Vandeven (L). Multiple hits -- Leopold: Bucher 2-3, Thele 2-4, Cameron Davis 2-4, Graham 2-3, Vandeven 3-3. Records -- Leopold 9-10.