Home Runs Propel Teutopolis to Win Over Effingham

The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes unloaded three home runs Monday afternoon to defeat the Effingham Hearts, 8-5, in baseball action at Paul Smith Field in Community Park.  The game was heard on 979XFM.

It was a see-saw contest, with Effingham breaking on top 1-0 in the first when Drew Levitt doubled home Alex Carie.

Teutopolis took their first lead in the second on a walk to Alex Goldstein, a Derek Smith double and a base hit by Darren Probst to move ahead 2-1.  The Shoes extended the lead to 3-1 on a leadhoff home run by Kyle Pruemer in the fourth. 

Effingham bounced back in the bottom of the frame, though, with some help from the Shoes' defense.  Preston Walker and Devin Mayfield each reached base on errors.  Dirk Levitt doubled home both runners and Levitt then scored on a third Teutopolis error to give the Hearts a 4-3 lead.

The Wooden Shoes responded in the sixth with some thunder.  Bobby Wenthe led off the inning with a home run to center that tied the game.  A walk, a fielder's choice and a force play followed before Probst launched a two-run shot to center to give the Shoes a 6-4 lead.

Effingham plated a run in the bottom of the sixth on a single by Dirk Levitt, a fielder's choice by Alex Carie and a run-scoring single by Drew Levitt to make it 6-5.

The Hearts defense stumbled in the seventh, though, committing two errors to go along with singles by Michael Gillespie and Chase Wendling to score the Shoes' final two runs.

Probst got the win for the Wooden Shoes, allowing five runs, one earned, on six hits and four walks while fanning five in 5-2/3 innings work.  Justin Kenter pitched the final 1-1/3 innings, giving up no runs on two hits and one walk.

Carie took the loss for the Hearts, giving up six runs, all earned, on seven hits and two walks while striking out one batter in 5-2/3 innings. Dirk Levitt pitched the last 1-1/3 innings, giving up two unearned runs on one hit while fanning one batter.

At the plate for Teutopolis, Jared Waldhoff doubled, Chase Wendling singled and scored, Wenthe homered, Pruemer homered and walked, Alex Goldstein walked and scored, Derek Smith doubled and reached on an error and scored twice, Probst homered and singled and drove in three runs, Reed Hardiek singled, and Gillespie singled and scored.

For Effingham, Dirk Levitt doubled and singled, scored and drove in two runs, Carie singled and walked and scored twice, Carter Hayes walked, Drew Levitt doubled and singled and drove in two runs, Matt Steffen walked twice, Kennan Mahaffey doubled, Preston Walker reached on an error and scored, Kevin Daugherty was hit by a pitch, Nathan Vail walked, and Devin Mayfield singled twice and reached on an error and scored.

Teutopolis improved to 17-3 on the season, while Effingham slipped to 7-9 on the campaign.

In freshman/sophomore action, Teutopolis blanked EHS 2-0.

At Effingham

Teutopolis          020    103    2    --    8-9-4

Effingham          100    301    0    --    5-8-1

WP -- Probst. LP -- Carie.

Teutopolis -- Waldhoff, double; Wendling, single, 1 RBI; Wenthe, home run, 1 RBI; Pruemer, home run, 1 RBI; Smith, double; Probst, single, home run, 3 RBI; Hardiek, single; Gillespie, single

Effingham -- Di.  Levitt, single, double, 2 RBI; Carie, single; Dr. Levitt, single, double, 2 RBI; Mahaffey, double; Mayfield, 2 singles

Freshman/Sophomore Game

Teutopolis 2, Effingham 0

LP -- Woltman.

Effingham -- White, single; Poland, single; Martin, 2 singles (EHS record 6-9)

Teutopolis -- no hits listed