Wooden Shoes Claim Third Place at 2A State Tournament

The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes rebounded from a tough loss Friday to post a 7-0 win over the Eureka Hornets to claim third place honors at the Class 2A high school baseball state tournament.  The win Saturday was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.  The contest was held to five innings as IHSA officials battled heavy rains throughout the weekend.  The 1A third place game earlier Saturday was also held to five innings.

As in Friday's game, Teutopolis scored to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.  Chase Wendling singled and then was moved to third on a base hit by Bobby Wenthe.  Kyle Pruemer then delivered a single to score Wendling.

Unlike Friday's game, the Wooden Shoes added a run in the second inning to extend the lead.  With two outs, Reed Hardiek doubled to left and moved to third on an error before a wild pitch brought him home to make it 2-0.

The Shoes broke the game open in the fourth inning when they scored five times.  Derek Smith doubled to start the inning and Hardiek followed with an infield hit to put runners on the corners with no one out.  Cody Will then reached on an infield hit to load the bases and a wild pitch brought Smith home to make it 3-0.  After a pop up produced the first T-Town out of the frame, Wendling followed with a base hit to drive home Hardiek and Will and the Shoes had a 5-0 lead.  Pinch-hitter Tim Probst then doubled to move Wendling to third.  Pinch-hitter Ryan Ruholl's ground ball then brought home Wendling to make it 6-0 and then pinch-hitter Justin Kenter doubled to drive in Wenthe who had re-entered for Probst and account for the final margin.

In the meantime, Shoes starting pitcher Jared Waldhoff pitched five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out six and working around a 25-minute rain delay to post the win.

At the plate for the Shoes: Chase Wendling--double, two singles, two runs scored, run batted in...Bobby Wenthe--single and walk, stolen base, run scored...Tim Probst--double...Kyle Pruemer--single, run batted in...Ryan Ruholl--run batted in...Justin Kenter--double, run batted in...Derek Smith--double, run scored...Reed Hardiek--double and single, two runs scored...Cody Will--single, stolen base, run scored.

With the win, Teutopolis not only secured third place honors at State, they also posted their 30th win of the season against just four losses.  Eureka finished 19-7-1.

Teutopolis says goodbye to seniors Kyle Pruemer, Jared Waldhoff, Chase Wendling, Derek Smith, Michael Gillespie, Ryan Ruholl and Tim Probst.

 Pleasant Plains defeated Lisle Saturday night to win the 2A state championship, 10-1.

In the 1A finals earlier Saturday, Wolf Lake Shawnee defeated Sidell Jamaica 2-1 to take third place honors while Waterloo Gibault won over Putnam County 6-2 to win the 1A state title.