Murphysboro Ends T-town's Postseason Run at Super-Sectional

Teutopolis High School weathered an early storm and held two different leads in Monday’s Class 2A Sauget Super-Sectional, but a trip to the state tournament wasn’t in the cards for the Wooden Shoes as Murphysboro scored twice in the top of the seventh inning on the way to an 8-7 victory at GCS Ballpark.

The game could be heard live on 979 XFM and 979xfm.com. The Wooden Shoes, playing in their seventh consecutive super-sectional, were vying for a fifth state tournament berth over the course of those seven years.

T-town (26-10) trailed 3-0 before it even got a chance to hit in the first inning, but battled back to knot things up in the second and then grabbed a 5-3 lead with two more tallies in the bottom of the third. The Red Devils (21-12) evened the score again with a pair of runs in the fourth and went ahead 6-5 with one more in the fifth. The lead wasn’t done changing hands, though. The Shoes answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth and held that advantage as Murphysboro took its last licks in the seventh.

Despite being down to its final three outs, Murphysboro plated two more and then held on in the home half of the frame to secure its first state tournament berth since 1966, which was also the last time (before now) the Red Devils had won a sectional title.

The game ended on a wild play; with two outs and Devin Smith on second base, John Kreke hit a jam shot back toward the mound. It hit the mound and took a sideways bounce away from pitcher Braden Miller toward third base. Kreke was safe with an infield hit, but Smith rounded third base and found himself in a rundown that eventually ended with the catcher tagging him out to end the proceedings.

Austin Johnson took the loss on the mound for T-town, throwing three innings in relief of starter Brock Bueker. Johnson entered a 5-5 game in the fourth and recorded two outs to escape further trouble. Despite allowing a run in the fifth, he stood to win entering the seventh. A walk, a sacrifice bunt, and two wild pitches brought home the tying run, however, and after another walk he fell behind 2-0 to the next hitter. At that point T-town coach Justin Fleener went to Smith. Smith induced a pop fly for the second out, but Brandon Caldwell wrapped up a 4-for-4 evening at the plate with the go-ahead RBI double down the left field line.

Murphysboro went through four pitchers; starter Brandon Graeff was yanked after surrendering three runs without recording an out in the second inning, and Noah Baird ended up lasting 3 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs, two of them earned. Justin Pulcher came in for 1 2/3 innings and ended up with the win, while Miller, the Red Devils’ winning pitcher in Saturday’s sectional final, worked the eventful seventh for the save.

As mentioned, Caldwell had four of the Red Devils five hits and drove in five, including a bases-loaded triple over center fielder Tyler Westendorf’s head in the top of the first; Clay Rendleman had the other Murphysboro base hit. Murphysboro drew seven walks and had two others hit by pitches; seven of those eventually came around to score. T-town hitters also drew a half-dozen walks; the strike zone was consistent all evening, but consistently tight to say the least.

Bueker, Kyle Smith, Cody Jansen and Jacob Roepke all had two-hit games for T-town, which outhit Murphysboro 13-5. Lane Belleville and Roepke drove in runs during the Shoes’ three-run second inning, while a Carson Hartke sacrifice fly and a Roepke RBI single accounted for the two third-inning tallies. In the fifth, it was Johnson and K. Smith with RBI singles. Johnson and D. Smith each drew two walks and were on base three times apiece.

Murphysboro faces St. Joseph-Ogden Friday at 3 p.m. in Peoria; the other Class 2A semifinal pits Reed-Custer (Braidwood) against Rockford Lutheran. Winners and losers of each game will square off against each other Saturday afternoon.

Teutopolis Coach Justin Fleener thanked the seniors on this season's squad for their contributions throughout their high school careers. They include Austin Johnson, John Kreke, Devin Smith, Kyle Smith, Mat Weber, Tyler Westendorf, Matt Koester and Jacob Roepke. Fleener also thanked departing Athletic Director Andy Johnson for his work and help through his years at Teutopolis. Johnson is headed to Jasper County to serve as superintendent.