Logan Philhower, Bureau Valley have their day against Galva

MANLIUS - Logan Philhower and the Bureau Valley baseball team had a day Thursday at the Storm diamond.

He had two hits and two RBIs at the plate while striking out nine batters in five innings to pick up an 8-0 win over Galva in a Lincoln Trail Conference crossover.

“My swing felt good today. On the mound, just try to throw strikes and dominate with a fastball. That’s it,” Philhower said.

Storm coach Ryan Schisler said it’s nice to be able to pencil Philhower in the lineup in the No. 3 slot and hand him the ball on the mound.

“Logan’s been great for us. We’ve come to expect that from him,” he said. “He goes out and competes. He had a good day. Defense was good. That was huge.”

The win was the ninth straight and 11th out of 12 for the Storm (17-4). They improved to 5-0 in the west division of the Lincoln Trail and will play for the league title at home on Saturday, May 3 vs. Monmouth United (17-3, 5-1). They will return to action at home on Tuesday, April 29 vs. Stark County.

“We’ve been stacking a lot of wins recently. We’re on a streak right now. I just hope to keep hot into May,” Philhower said.

The teams were locked in a scoreless stalemate until the Storm broke through with three runs in the fifth inning and five more in the sixth.

Landon “Nacho” Smith got the Storm rally started in the fifth with a leadoff single to center. Landen Birdsley got the Storm on the board with a RBI single to center, scoring pinch runner Bracin Patnoe.

Birdsley scored on a wild pitch before Blake Foster singled home Elijah Endress, who reached on an error, to make it 3-0.

Endress, Philhower and Foster had RBI singles with Bryce Helms bringing home a run with a hit by pitch with the bases loaded.

“They’ve played some teams tough. Their guys threw it over the plate and luckily we found a way to hang tough and stick to our approach and get something across,” Schisler said.

Philhower scattered one hit and three walks over five innings, turning the ball over to Foster (1 H, 1 K) and Brock Rediger (1K), who pitched one scoreless inning each.

Ty Keup had both hits for the Wildcats (3-10).