WSS Hands Teutopolis 6-5 Loss In Baseball

The Hatchets ran off to a 4-1 opening inning lead then held off challenges by Teutopolis the rest of the way, scoring two needed runs in the top of the seventh.

"When you come out and play a great team like Teutopolis, getting four runs right away feels good but you know they're going to fight back,"' said WSS Coach Brett Harmeier.

The Hatchets struck quickly in the top of the first. Austin Wittenberg drew a walk to start the inning. Tyler Wetherell followed with a single. Gavan Wernsing then doubled Wittenberg home. Samuel Vonderheide followed with a single bringing Wetherell home. T-town got the first out before Graham Kasey singled home Wernsing. Vonderheide came home on a passed ball and it was 4-0.

The Wooden Shoes came back in the bottom of the frame with a run. With one out, Mitch Althoff and Kayden Althoff drew back-to-back walks. Two errors later, M. Althoff scored.

After a tough opening inning on the mound, T-town's Derek Konkel got on track, Wittenberg singled in the second for the Hatchets but was left stranded. Over the next two innings, Konkel got the Hatchets up and down in order and held them from scoring through six.

Meanwhile, T-town tallied another run in the third. Sam Bushur was hit by a pitch to take first. M. Althoff then followed with a triple scoring Bushur. The Shoes had Kayden Althoff draw a walk but WSS got out of further damage as Gavan Wernsing struck out the next three batters.

"Gavan's fastball command wasn't there but I told him that sometimes you don't have the best but you just have to figure it out and he did," said Harmeier.

Things were relatively quiet until the seventh.

Rhett Rincker led off the inning for the Hatchets with a single and reached second on an error. Wittenberg followed with a single that scored Rincker. Wetherell and Wernsing drew back-to-back walks. Wetherell came home on a wild pitch and the Hatchets had moved ahead 6-3.

But the Wooden Shoes were far from out of the contest. In the bottom of the seventh with one out, they started to rumble. Logan Roepke, Dylan Pruemer and Caleb Siemer drew walks. Roepke stole second and came home on a sacrifice fly by Cade Buehnerkemper and that was the second out. Pruemer scored on an error on a ball hit by Bushur and the Shoes had pulled within 6-5 but the Hatchets got the final out on a grounder and a fielder's choice.

"Derek threw the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings great," said T-town Coach Justin Fleener. "He did a good job giving us a shot. You don't want to put yourself in that position. One of the things I told him was get ahead with stirke one and then you put yourself in better control."

WSS' Wittenberg finished with two singles and an RBI while Wernsing had a single, double and an RBI and Kasey two singles and an RBI. 

"I threw Kendall Morris into the fire," said Coach Harmeier. "He's only a freshman and gave up three walks to start the seventh. I just went out to the mound to give him a deep breath and relax. I told him to trust his defense.

"Austin and Tyler, in the top of the lineup, did a good job. They've been run producers and hit all season long. T-town always has an excellent team. When you can come in and get a win, that's huge."

The Hatchets will return to action in the National Trail Conference Tournament with a 10-4 overall record.

T-town saw its fall season come to a close with a 13-9 record.

"We want to take good away from this," said Fleener. "A loss will drive these guys because they don't want that feeling again. Our pitching and defense got better as the season went along. We'll build on this for the spring season."

T-town was led by Bushur with a single and double and M. Althoff with a triple and an RBI. Buehnerkemper had a single and an RBI.

At Teutopolis

WSS                    400    000    2    --    6-9-3

Teutopolis          101    001    2    --    5-4-2

WP -- Wernsing. LP -- Konkel.

Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg -- Wittenberg, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Wetherell, single; Wernsing, single, double, 1 RBI; Vonderheide, single, 1 RBI; Kasey, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Rincker, single

Teutopolis -- Bushur, single, double; M. Althoff, triple, 1 RBI; Buehnerkemper, single, 1 RBI