Shoes Reach Baseball Final Four

(THE 2015 TEUTOPOLIS WOODEN SHOES REACT AFTER RECEIVING THEIR SUPER-SECTIONAL PLAQUE)

John Kreke delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning to propel the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes to a 6-5 victory over the DuQuoin Indians and a spot in the Final Four of the Class 2A Boys Baseball State Tournament.

The thriller was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Kreke's base hit brought home Tyler Westendorf with the winning run just after DuQuoin had scored two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game.

With the victory, Teutopolis will play in the State 2A semifinal game at 5pm Friday at Dozer Park in Peoria against Williamsville, who defeated St. Joseph-Ogden, 3-2, to win the Springfield Super-Sectional played at Lincoln Land Community College.

Should the Wooden Shoes win Friday, they would play for the 2A state championship on Saturday at 5:30pm. Should they lose, they would play for third place at 3pm Saturday.

The game began badly for Teutopolis as Kyle Smith was greeted with singles on his first two pitches. He then walked the next two batters to force in a run. At that point, Shoes Coach Chris Fleener replaced Kyle Smith with Devin Smith on the mound. After a force out at the plate, on which Devin Smith aggravated a nagging hip injury, a batter was hit with a pitch to bring in a second run and then a single made it 3-0. Smith then ended the inning and followed that up with more than five innings of shutout baseball that allowed the Shoes to get back in the game.

Teutopolis got on the board in the bottom of the first with a two-out double by Jordan Thoele and a RBI single by Austin Hartke.

Then came the fifth inning, when the Shoes turned the game around. #9 hitter Tommy Flach led off the frame with a base hit, followed by a double by Devin Smith, a two-run single by Louis Niemerg, another double by Jordan Thoele, and a two-run single by Austin Hartke. The four-run inning propelled the Wooden Shoes to a 5-3 lead.

DuQuoin had one more burst of offense, though. In the seventh, Devin Smith walked a batter to start the frame and then hit the next batter. Fleener decided to go with Niemerg, who had just pitched a complete game to win the sectional championship at Vandalia the day before. Things started well as Niemerg picked up a strikeout, but Ashton Smith then singled in two runs to tie the game.

That set the stage for the heroics in the bottom of the seventh. Jordan Thoele was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Hartke sacrificed him to second where Westendorf came in to run for Thoele. Kreke's game-winning hit followed, improving the Shoes' record to 31-5-1.

Here's the hitting breakdown for Teutopolis: Devin Smith--double, single, run scored; Louis Niemerg--single, run scored, 2 RBI; Jordan Thoele--two doubles, hit by pitch, two runs scored; Tyler Westendorf--three runs scored; Austin Hartke--two singles, 3 RBI, John Kreke--two singles, RBI; Brock Mette--single; Tommy Flach--single, run scored

Louis Niemerg got the win in relief. DuQuoin ends their season with a 26-11 record.