Seniors Grant Gwinner and Bransen Schulte, who both earned places on the 2018 All-League baseball team, lead this season’s Ellsworth team.

In all, the Bearcats return nine varsity athletes, four of them starters, from this past year.

And, for the second year, team members consist of players from both Ellsworth and Wilson, an arrangement that was restarted a year ago under head coach Bernie Schulte. Jason McWilliams stopped into the top coaching job this season.

“We have a good number of athletes out this year,” McWilliams said.“We will be pretty deep at several positions which creates competition at those spots. Also, we have several pitchers who can give us quality innings. With the pitch count rules in place, having to decide which pitcher to throw is a good problem to have.”

Ellsworth, Russell split double header

The Ellsworth Bearcats split a double-header at home Tuesday, April 2, against Russell-Victoria. The Bearcats lost the first game, 9-2, giving the Broncos their first win of the season, but redeemed themselves in the second game of the evening, winning a close one, 8-7.

Russell-Victoria 9, Ellsworth 2

The Broncos got things going early, scoring on a double and a groundout in the first inning. The Bearcats had a hard time containing the Russell-Victoria team, which scored four more runs in the fourth inning.

Pitcher Braden Schulte took the loss for Ellsworth, lasting four innings. Schulte allowed six hits and eight runs. He recorded five strikeouts on the day and walked one.

Players Gavin Tully and Tristan Soukup had one hit each to lead the team.

Ellsworth 8, Russell-Victoria 7

A walk-off error sealed the victory for the Bearcats, winning 8-7 over the Broncos in the second game.

The Bearcats scored in the second inning when Jaxson Stefek singled on a 0-1 count, scoring one run. Ellsworth picked up four more runs in the third inning, with Bearcats Brady Mermis, Dayton Davis and Morgan Kelley all contributing RBIs.

Ellsworth eventually built a sixrun lead in the third inning, and managed to hold off Russell-Victoria’s five-run comeback attempt.

With the game tied at seven all, the Bearcats were up to bat in the bottom of the eighth.

With two outs, Ellsworth’s Kordell Kriley was up to bat. After several foul balls, Kriley hit a grounder on a 1-3 count, which scored Stefek. Davis started the game for Ellsworth, pitching more than four innings. Davis allowed no runs on four hits, and struck out seven.

Bransen Schulte relieved Davis, pitching more than two innings. Schulte allowed one run on a hit, and struck out three players. Kriley ended the game for the Bearcats, pitching one inning. Stefek led the Bearcats with two hits in three at bats.