By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Rogersville, Mo. — Jordan Fitzpatrick had never done what he did to a baseball Tuesday. Neither had Shane Gruener.
Fitzpatrick went deep three times, all in each of his first three at bats, while Gruener did so twice, after having never hit a single varsity home run, powering Rogersville (4-3) to a 15-5 five-inning victory over previously undefeated Buffalo (7-1).
“It felt pretty good,” Gruener said. “We were kind of struggling on the mound and I felt I had to kind of make up for it.”
A two-home run, five RBI night is slightly more than kind of.
For Fitzpatrick, who hit his third, fourth and fifth home runs of the season, the three-homer day was the first of its kind for the Missouri State commit.
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So what was he thinking when the third bomb left the bat?
“Wow,” he said.
“I didn’t think I could do it. But I had a lot of guys going off in the dugout. Everybody was just kind of joking around about it and I just got a good pitch. It just happened to go over.”
Gruener’s two-run shot in the second inning but Rogersville ahead for good at 6-5 in what was a wild game early on.
The Wildcats scored four in the first inning off Buffalo starter Travis Clemmons, who allowed seven runs over 1.1 innings. Only five of those runs were earned.
Buffalo responded by chasing Gruener, who started on the mound for the Wildcats, two outs into the second inning.
The Bison pulled within 4-2 on RBI singles from Colby Kramer and Parker Tyree, eventually taking a 5-4 lead after two runs scored following an error on a Clemmons grounder.
But it was fielding mistakes and a pair of errors in the second and third innings that ended up hurting Buffalo and turning that 5-4 lead into a 12-5 hole.
“I don’t mind getting beat, but I don’t like the way we played and did things,” Buffalo head coach Eric Ingram said. “Mental mistakes in the outfield, not hustling out balls, baserunning mistakes, not coming through in a bases-loaded situation with a two-run ballgame. If we get a hit there and don’t make those mental mistakes, we’d probably still be playing and be tied right now.”
Buffalo left the bases loaded in the third inning when trailing just 7-5. Those were three of seven runners the Bison left stranded.
“We responded once but we didn’t respond twice,” Ingram said. “We didn’t play a real good second half of the game. I’m more disappointed in that than the score.”
Bison reliever Billy McCune allowed three earned runs and eight total runs on eight hits over 3.1 innings. Rogersville finished the game with 16 hits.
“We didn’t hit some stuff as a staff all night long, and when you give up five home runs, that’s just unheard of. Credit Rogersville for swinging the stick. But we didn’t hit our spots,” Ingram said.
For Buffalo, Tuesday could be nothing but a setback for a program that seems primed for one of its best seasons in recent history.
“Coach Ingram does a good job over there,” Rogersville head coach Casey Ledl said. “They’re definitely a much more confident team and they’re definitely on the rise.”
Buffalo catcher Austin Williams had an impressive day behind the plate, throwing out three Rogersville runners.
Gruener and Fitzpatrick combined for seven runs, seven hits and nine RBIs.
UP NEXT
Buffalo: The Bison can grab their first conference win of the season with a home win over Marshfield (4-5) on Thursday. Their 7-1 start is the best for the program in at least a decade.
Rogersville: After facing four Class 5 programs and MBCA Class 4 No. 1 Aurora already this season, Rogersville faces another tough conference test in a trip to Bolivar Thursday.
