Kaiserslautern shortstop James Leonard goes to tag SHAPE baserunner Donovan Traylor near second base during the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader on May 11, 2024, at Pulaski Park in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – The Kaiserslautern baseball team was ready to go at 10 a.m. Saturday for its doubleheader against SHAPE.

Just one problem: The Spartans hadn’t arrived yet.

SHAPE left Mons, Belgium, late, and then traveled in the wrong direction – heading to Frankfurt instead of Kaiserslautern, making it so the away side didn’t arrive at the Pulaski Park baseball field until an hour after the scheduled first pitch.

Yet in the first inning, you couldn’t tell which team had been waiting and which one was delayed in arriving. Three batters in, the Raiders committed two errors and allowed another Spartan to reach base safely off a passed ball on a strikeout. Kaiserslautern coach Justin Bates called a mound meeting and lit into his players.

“We started the games a little bit late today, so it was kind of an off vibe,” Raider junior Logan Bell said. “Sometimes, you just need a little bit of fire underneath your butt to get going.”

That talk settled down the Raiders, who recovered to sweep the doubleheader from the Spartans 6-4 and 22-1.

They did so by coming back from an early three-run deficit, as the Spartans (3-7, 3-7) took advantage in the top of the first.

For Bates, innings like that have plagued the Raiders (7-5, 7-5) this season. On Saturday, Kaiserslautern was able to overcome it.

“We think of ourselves as a pretty good defensive team, but we give this obligatory big inning to the other team where they don’t even have to earn it,” Bates said. “We give them two or three walks, a few errors and we give three or four runs, and then we have to claw our way back.”

It took until the fifth inning before the Raiders finally took the lead.

Trailing 4-3, Kaiserslautern struggled against the hard pitching of SHAPE’s Will Bush, whom Bates described as the best pitcher in DODEA-Europe. Bush’s speed proved to be an issue, as the senior fanned 10 Raiders over five innings of work.

In the bottom of the fifth, though, the home lineup entered its third time through the order, and batters started to connect. Bell sent an 0-1 pitch into the left-center field gap for a double, driving in teammate Braydon Lokey to tie the game.

Three batters later, sophomore Jonathan Brown pushed a bloop single into shallow right field to score James Leonard, who reached on one of two Spartan defensive errors in the inning. A balk then scored Brown to make it 6-4.

It proved to be enough, as starter Bryant Lokey (5 1/3 innings and seven strikeouts) recorded the first out of the sixth before Bell shut the door with a strikeout and a pickoff at first base.

“When we got a couple runners on base, there might have been a little spark and maybe a little confidence that we can actually do this,” Bates said of the bottom of the fifth. “We’ve been denied a couple times. … We just needed that little confidence boost to get over that hump.”

Kaiserslautern junior Rueben Todman runs toward third base to complete a triple during the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader against SHAPE on May 11, 2024, at Pulaski Park in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

SHAPE third baseman Ethan Simmons leaps to nab a flyball during the third inning of the first game of a doubleheader against Kaiserslautern on May 11, 2024, at Pulaski Park in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

SHAPE's Eugy Zermeno tries to lay down a bunt during the first inning of the first game of a doubleheader against Kaiserslautern on May 11, 2024, at Pulaski Park in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Kaiserslautern junior Logan Bell connects on a double during the fifth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against SHAPE on May 11, 2024, at Pulaski Park in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

SHAPE Game 1 starter Will Bush throws a pitch against Kaiserslautern on May 11, 2024, at Pulaski Park in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Game 1 Kaiserslautern starter Bryant Lokey pitches against SHAPE on May 11, 2024, at Pulaski Park in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

While the opening game was tight, the afternoon matchup couldn’t have been any different.

Kaiserslautern bats torched SHAPE pitchers, with the Raiders batting around the lineup in all three innings. Rueben Todman, who didn’t play in the early contest, launched a triple to the center field wall during a five-run first inning, and even the bench got in on the hit parade when junior Jack Foery drove in two runs on a double in the top of the third.

The Raiders also turned a complete 180 in the field. After committing four errors in the first two innings of action Saturday, they didn’t record another mistake defensively.

In fact, Kaiserslautern showed off its defensive prowess in the first inning of the late game. Center fielder Nick Sullivan gunned down SHAPE’s Ethan Simmons after catching a fly ball from Bush, with James Leonard (2 for 4 with two RBI at the plate) relaying the ball into Bell.

Senior catcher Trygg Bredlow also caught SHAPE’s Donovan Traylor in no man’s land, throwing to first baseman John Leonard before he tossed the ball to brother James at shortstop to apply the tag.

“Coming of the first game like that, it was fuel to play as good as we could in the second game,” said Bell, who went 4 for 5 with three RBI and three runs across the doubleheader.

SHAPE coach James Truitt couldn’t have been happier with the team’s start in the first game, but he said the Spartans never recovered from dropping the lead late in that contest.

Still, he saw enough to know his team can hang with the Raiders, and considering the two teams are likely to finish fourth and fifth in the regular season, the duo could see each other in the opening game of the European championships.

“We spent the last two days focusing on hitting, and it really showed that we were putting the ball in play, making them make errors and giving us the chances to score,” Truitt said.

“(Giving up the lead) was horrible. … I was distraught for that. There’s nothing about losing in the last inning that will ever feel good.”