Ellenbecker shines in sweep

Lawrence Raiders coach Troy Wingert tells his pitchers to work fast on the mound against their opponents.

Against Olathe East on Wednesday, Max Ellenbecker carried that philosophy with him onto the basepaths in the Raiders’ 14-6, 10-0 sweep of the Eagles at the Free State High baseball field.

In his first plate appearance since high school – which was over a year ago – Ellenbecker smacked a two-run triple, finishing 1-for-2 with three RBIs in the opener. And that was simply act one.

“I didn’t really expect that,” Ellenbecker said with a huge grin. “I didn’t think I’d get that many … and it surprised me.”

In the opening scene of his second act following intermission, Ellenbecker struck out the side in order after giving up two hits to start game two, and recorded two more strikeouts in the second inning.

“It seemed like it just took me a little bit to get my control down,” Ellenbecker said. “The first couple of batters I was leaving some fastballs up in the zone and they just put some good swings on them. Then I was able to bear down and get some strikes.”

When he came to bat in the bottom of the first – with four runs already plated ahead of him – Ellenbecker cleared the loaded bases with a double.

“He actually looked good – he looked like a natural up there,” Wingert said. “He’s got a pretty swing from the left side. He did an outstanding job for us at the plate and on the mound.”

For his finale, the left-handed pitcher – who redshirted this spring for the Kansas University baseball squad – led off the bottom half of the third with another triple and scored the last Raiders run on a Travis Ice double.

“He still has his stroke from both sides of the plate so it was real good to see him succeed at the plate,” Lorenzo Ricketts said.

Then on the mound, he faced the minimum amount of batters to close out the final two innings.

“Max will always be Max. He’s always that one dog at the mound that will just bite, bite, bite,” Ricketts said. “We always feel confident with him on the mound. He’s a great pitcher.”

Ricketts was also impressive in the batter’s box for the depleted Raiders team. He went 5-for-6 with three RBIs and five runs scored in the doubleheader.

“We were short a couple of guys today and so I felt I kind of took it upon to try to pick things up and do everything I could for the team,” Ricketts said. “It was good though – a real good night.”

Kyle Cross earned the win for the Raiders in the opener, going the distance in his first appearance on the mound this summer.

“We needed him to eat some innings and he ended up getting all five and we were very thankful that he did that,” Wingert said. “He did a good job. He kind of struggled a little bit, but the zone was pretty tight, but he stood up there and battled.”