BOURBON — Both teams wore grey jerseys. The sky was grey. The wind was fierce and the temperature was cold, very cold. The calendar showed April 3 but it hardly felt like spring. There was some spring in the step of the Whitko baseball team, however, following Monday’s game. The Wildcats needed just five innings to down host Triton 12-1.

Adam Stevens hammers a ball foul during Monday’s game against Whitko.

“I though the key tonight was that we came out and jumped on them (Triton),” began Whitko head coach Erik Hisner. “We had some good at-bats, got the lead-off double followed by (Tanner) Gaff’s single. It got the ball rolling for us and we did a good job at taking advantage of their mistakes.

“It was Triton’s first game, it’s tough, they’ve got some guys at new positions and we were able to take advantage of some mistakes.”

Landen Goff had that double for the Wildcats and he would score shortly after on a dropped third strike. Gaff was brought home on an RBI from Hunter Sroufe and the hits kept coming after that, figuratively and literally speaking. Drew Bradford scored on a error and Sroufe then capped the first inning with a run following a passed ball. After the top of the first it was 5-0, advantage Whitko.

“We started off slow,” Triton skipper Brad Hargrave stated. “It’s hard when you put a pitcher out there and he throws 46 pitches in one inning. That’s hard to recover from. He was hitting his spots, we’re just young. We had a few first year guys on there and it showed at times, but we’ve got a good base to build with.”

River West took the mound for the visitors and had a successful night. He downed nine straight batters to start the game. Triton’s first base runner didn’t come until the fourth inning. West pitched four for the Wildcats, giving up one run and one hit and recording five strikeouts.

In the second Whitko tacked on another run. This time it was Bradford scoring on a passed ball. Bradford scored once again in the fourth, this time on an error at short. Whitko carried a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth.

Max Slusser recorded Triton’s first hit in the bottom of the fourth. That hit would lead to a run as Slusser scored on a double-steal.

Whitko responded in the top of the fifth to put the 10-run rule into effect. Gaff knocked two home while Goff had one RBI in the frame. Robby Owsley scored on an error and another RBI from Anderson gave the team a 12-1 lead. Sroufe closed out the game on the mound for the Wildcats and recorded two strikeouts.

Zac Pitney took the loss for the Trojans. The junior went four innings, gave up three earned runs, six hits and recorded three strikeouts. Payton Westafer pitched the final inning giving up four earned runs and four hits for Triton. Westafer had one strikeout.

Whitko (2-0) will host No. 10 Churubusco Wednesday evening while Triton (0-1) will host South Bend Riley.