Altamont, St. A, N. Clay, WSS Advance In NTC Baseball Tourney

Altamont, Effingham St. Anthony, North Clay (Louisville) and Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg advanced to play Wednesday. No. 5-seeded Altamont will travel to top-seeded North Clay for a 4 p.m. contest while Windsor-Stew-Stras, seeded third, will head to No. 2 St. Anthony, also a four p.m. contest.

The winners advance to the championship game scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. at South Central. The losers will play for third place at 4 p.m.

Altamont 3, South Central 1

This game was a nailbiter from the get-go.

After going three innings without a score, but threatening in each inning, Altamont broke loose with a run in the fourth.

The Indians' Mason Winn started things off by drawing a walk. He stole second and third as Logan Cornett also drew a walk and stole second. With the two runners at second and third, Jared Hammer drew a walk to load the bases. Mason Robinson then walked and Winn came home.

South Central placed runners at second and third with no outs in the second inning but a double play ended that threat.

Altamont came back to push its lead to 2-0 in the fifth. Dillan Elam led off with a single and stole second. Nathan Stuemke followed with a single and the Indians led 2-0.

Another run came in the sixth when Hammer singled and Robinson followed with a double. Hammer scored on a wild pitch.

Tyler Robbins kept the Cougars in check until the seventh when Anthony Buonaura knocked out a home run. But Robbins got the next two batters on a fly ball and a ground out to end the game.

Robbins was on the mound all seven innings for the Indians, scattering five hits and five walks while striking out six.

"I told Tyler he had to have a game plan and he did, mixiing his pitches up so well," said Altamont Coach Alan Whitt. "He came back after allowing the home run, throwing a curve ball, then a fastball, then another curve.

"Up and down the lineup everyone just battled. We did swing too much at out of zone pitches but we worked on getting walks and pushing Dodson out of the game. Almost everyone had great at-bats. Now it's on to North Clay, so welcome to the NTC. That's the way this conference is, everyone is tough."

The Indians finished with nine hits, two singles each by Hammer, Elam and Nathan Stuemke. Stuemke had an RBI along with Robinson, who had a double.

South Central had five hits that included a double by Spencer Johannes and a home run by  Anthony Buonaura.

"I thought there was good pitching on both sides," said South Central Coach Curt Jones. "Robbins had great curve balls for strikes and a good fastball. All of my kids were a big part of our run to State last year and have done a good job this fall.

"By the way, our conference is ridiculous. This year everyone can beat everyone and they've all got good pitching. The fall season is when you learn where your team is at and figure things out."

South Central ended the season with a 14-5 record.

NTC Tournament

At South Central

Altamont                   000    111    0    --    3-9-0

South Central           000    000    1    --    1-5-0

WP -- Robbins. LP -- Dodson.

Altamont -- Hammer, 2 singles; Robinson, double, 1 RBI; Eirhart, single; Elam, 2 singles; Stuemke, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Cornett, single

South Central -- Dodson, single; Magnus, single; Buonaura, home run, 1 RBI; Johannes, double; Watwood, single

St. Anthony 3, Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City 2

This contest went eight innings before Effingham St. Anthony pulled out a 3-2 victory with all five runs scoring in the final inning.

This contest was a pitcher's dual from the get-go. Brody Niebrugge kept the Bobcats off balance, garnering four strikeouts in the first two innings against six batters. He allowed a walk in the third and that was the lone baserunner until the sixth for the Bobcats

Meanwhile, Silas Buzzard allowed a triple to Will Hoene in the first inning with two outs but got out of the frame. Then in the second, Eli LInk singled with one out and reached second on a single by Brock Jansen. But the Bobcats stifftened and got out of the frame unscathed.

Both teams had a runner on in the third. St. Anthony's Jansen singled in the fourth only to be left again. The Bobcats had runners on in the sixth as Carson Evans reached when he was hit by a pitch and Quaid Schlanser singled. but Evans was left stranded on third.

The two teams came to the seventh and CHBC went up and down in order while the Bulldogs put a runner on base on a walk but stranded him.

Then in the eighth, CHBC struck with two runs. Carson Evans and Clayton Wojcik drew walks and came home on a single by Schlanser and the Bobcats led 2-0.

In the bottom of the frame, the Bulldogs rallied. Brady Hatton got things started with a single. Angelo Mendella drew a walk and Colton Fearday followed with a triple that scored the tying runs. A ball hit by Brody Niebrugge was thrown to home in an attempt go get Fearday but the throw was high and he scored the winning run.

St. Anthony (15-5) had seven hits led by Fearday with a single, triple and an RBI. Brady Hatton had two singles.

CHBC was led by Wes Radloff withi two singles and Schlanser with a single and two RBI. The Bobcats finished the season at 8-8.

At St. Anthony

CHBC                    000    000    02    --    2-3-1

St. Anthony          000    000    03    --    3-7-1

WP -- Levitt. LP -- Buzzard.

Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City -- Schlanser, single, 2 RBI; Radloff, 2 singles

St. Anthony -- Fearday, single, triple, 2 RBi; Hoene, single; Niebrugge, 1 RBI; Link, single; Jansen, single; Hatton, 2 singles

 At Strasburg

Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg tallied a 10-0 victory over Brownstown/St. Elmo in six innings Monday.

The Hatchets edged out to a 1-0 opening inning lead, tacked on two in the second, had a five-run fourth and finished out with two in the sixth.

Graham Kasey threw a two-hitter, allowing two walks while striking out nine for the win on the mound.

WSS had 10 hits led by Sam Vonderheide with a double and a two-run walk-off home run. Austin Wittenberg, Tyler Wetherell and Gavin Wernsing had two singles each.

BSE's two singles were by Wyatt Chandler and Wyatt Forbes. BSE ends the season with a 13-7 record.

At Strasburg

BSE             000    000    --      0-  2-1

WSS            120    502    --    10-10-0

WP -- Kasey. LP -- Myers.

Brownstown/St. Elmo -- Chandler, single; Forbes, single

Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg -- A. Wittenbreg, 2 singles; Wetherell, 2 singles; Wernsing, 2 singles; Vonderheide, double, home run, 1 RBI; Chaney, single; RIncker, single

At Louisville

North Clay (Louisville) tallied a 10-0 victory over Dieterich. The Cardinals improve to 24-1 on the season.