Photo by Jake McNeill: Wabasso pitcher Adryen Tietz throws a pitch during the Rabbits' 7-2 win over Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove at the Milroy Irish Yard Friday afternoon.

MILROY — Adryen Tietz celebrated his birthday by feasting on Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove batters Friday afternoon. The Wabasso starting pitcher struck out 14 batters while leading the Rabbits to a 7-2 win on a rainy day at the Irish Yard. 

Through four innings, Tietz was pitching a perfect game. He also had a stretch of seven consecutive strikeouts starting in the second inning and ending in the fifth inning. He finished the game with one earned run allowed on three hits. He also singled, drew a pair of walks and scored twice as a batter.

“He had good velocity early in the game,” Wabasso head coach Chad Olson said. “You can see that he was kind of tired out a little bit there in the middle, middle-late innings, but he had his curveball working in some wet conditions. That’s not easy for anybody to pitch in these conditions, so I thought he did an incredible job.”

Wabasso staked its early lead by capitalizing on the Falcons’ mistakes. The Rabbits scored three runs before they got their first hit by taking advantage of walks, wild pitches and errors. The first two rabbits struck out before a walk and a pair of wild pitches advanced Tietz to third. Joe Liebl and Jaxson Wagner were hit by a pitch on consecutive at-bats before Jayden Remiger and Kaysen Harms walked in a pair of runs to put Wabasso up 2-0.

Treydon Larson and Noah Anderson each walked to start the second inning. Larson advanced on a wild pitch and a passed ball while Anderson stole second before the Falcons made a switch on the mound, putting in Hudsen Jenniges.

Tietz hit a double to drive in Anderson after Larson scored on an error but Jenniges got out of the inning by striking out each of the next two innings.

“I think [Hudsen Jenniges], for the most part today, did a pretty good job of pitching out of some jams and getting to be more effective in the strike zone than he has in the past couple of outings,” RRC/WWG head coach Isaac Jenniges said.

“Coming in a tough spot after giving up four from the first guy with three guys on base, I thought he battled to get us out of the second inning.”

Hudsen Jenniges pitched six innings of relief, striking out 11 batters while allowing two earned runs on three hits and a pair of walks. Still, the inherited damage was too much for him to hang on for a win. RRC/WWG finished the game with five errors. 

“It’s about getting reps at this time of the year. We’re playing four days a week, there’s not a lot of time for practice to fix those things,” coach Jenniges said of the Falcons’ fielding issues. “Any time you get the opportunity, you’ve got to focus on doing things the right way and getting stuff done and taking those reps mentally and physically. We got some work to do still, we’ve got five games in the next seven or eight days to finish off the season. We’ll try to play the best that we can at the right time.”

The Falcons broke up Tietz’s perfect game in the bottom of the fifth inning when Hudsen Jenniges lined the ball toward short. While the Wabasso fielder got a glove on the ball, he could not hang on for the catch or make the play at first. Jenniges advanced to second and then scored on a hit from Isaac Simonson. Simonson’s hit was short and towards third base, so Tietz threw to third instead of getting the force at first, but the ball flew over the third baseman’s head and allowed Jenniges to score.

Jake Jackson was hit by a pitch in the foot and Ashton Holmen singled to load the bases before Jayden Lang grounded out to drive in another run. Still, Tietz struck out the last batter of the building and held the Falcons scoreless for the final two frames. 

“His pitch count was low,” Olson said when asked about his decision to keep Tietz in the game after the fifth inning. “As long as his pitch count was where it was, I’m not going to pull a kid like Adryen… We just settled down and he locked it back down and finished the last two innings real strong.”

Liebl hit a two-run double for the Rabbits in the sixth inning, scoring Larson and Tietz, marking the only other Wabasso hit of the game. 

Wabasso (8-5) will go on the road to face New Ulm Cathedral on Tuesday at 5 p.m., hoping to extend its win streak to six games.

Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove (5-7) will play its last game designated as a home game on Monday when it hosts Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda at the Milroy Irish Yard at 4 p.m.