Heading into the this week’s high school baseball postseason, Malcolm is right where it wants to be. The defending state champions have been atop the Class C wildcard point standings all season and will enter district play on Thursday as the overall top seed.
“Last year, we limped into the state tournament needing a wild card after losing our district game,” Malcolm head coach Zach Wehner said. “This week, we will concentrate on taking care of business in districts by taking it one game at a time and taking nothing for granted.”
The Clippers survived a tough road test on April 22 by traveling to Wahoo to pick up a 3-1 win over the Warriors. In the rematch of the conference tournament third place game, Mason Wisnieski got the start for Malcolm. The junior pitched a solid six innings, allowing just one earned run and four hits while striking out seven before Maddox Meyer struck out the side in the seventh to earn the save.
“We gave Mason the start rather than Maddox to prove a point to our team,” Wehner said. “No matter who is throwing, we can compete with good teams. I hope this game built some confidence in our guys.”
A sacrifice fly from Garrett England got Malcolm on the board in the top of the second. The other two runs came by way of aggressive base running and Wahoo miscues as the Warriors’ Jonas Schnakenberg held the Clippers to just three hits while fanning nine.
“He did a good job throwing hard and keeping us on our toes,” Wehner said. “That many strikeouts is unusual for us.”
In the “Battle for the Buck” game on April 23, Malcolm outlasted its former teammates from Raymond Central, 8-2. The third annual trophy game is a celebration of the three seasons the schools had a baseball co-op called the Branched Oak Bucks.
“The game is always competitive,” Wehner said. “The boys get pretty excited to go against some former teammates.
“We have been fortunate to win that trophy every year. That is one of the goals the team has at the beginning of the year.”
On Senior Night in Malcolm, Meyer — starting on the mound for the first time since April 13 — improved his record to a perfect 6-0 with a complete game. The UNO commit allowed three hits while striking out 12 Raymond Central batters.
Luke Schmidt and Carson Frank each homered for the Clippers while Wisnieski was 4-for-4 with a double and four runs batted in.
Malcolm (16-3) was scheduled to close out the regular season by hosting Wayne (12-5) on April 29. Malcolm downed the Blue Devils 10-4.
Schmidt hit another home run and drove in three to lead the Malcolm offense. He was 3-4. Wisnieski and Cole Tiedeman added two hits each, with one of Tiedeman’s a double.
The Clippers host the C-1 district on Thursday, May 2, and will face the winner of Maxwell-St. Pat’s (1-8) and Tekamah-Herman (1-11). The other side of the bracket features GACC-West Point-Beemer (8-7) and Fort Calhoun (8-10). If Malcolm wins on Thursday, it will host the district title game on Friday, May 3.
