New Bremen starts out 1-1 at state tournament

BRYAN - For not being in the state ACME tournament for over 40 years, New Bremen certainly looked like old pros.

The Cardinals, who last went to state in 1964 winning the state title, had a pretty dominating weekend in the first round of play in the 2007 Ed Bollenbacher Memorial state tournament at Ray Sumpter Field in Bryan.

On Saturday, the Cardinals pounded out 17 hits in run-ruling Benjamin Logan 13-2 in six innings to advance to the winner's bracket semifinals.

In the semifinals on Sunday, however, the Cardinals saw the hammer fall, collecting just two hits as Northmont posted a 3-2 win in the nightcap of Sunday's quadrupleheader.

The Cardinals (20-7) will now face Perrysburg (31-11) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in one consolation bracket game. The Yellow Jackets stayed alive by shutting out Edgewood, 9-0.

The New Bremen-Northmont game was the only game of the day that did not result in a shutout. Toledo Central Catholic eliminated Benjamin Logan with a 10-0 five-inning win. In the other winner's bracket game, Dace Kime fired a one hitter as Defiance defeated Western Buckeye League foe Shawnee, 5-0.

Defiance and Northmont play Wednesday at 6 p.m. while Shawnee faces off against TCC in the nightcap on Tuesday.

The furious offensive onslaught the Cardinals engaged in on Saturday disappeared thanks to the pitching of T-Bolt southpaw Bryan Daniel.   

Meanwhile, early errors allowed Northmont to jump out early. Brad Wendel misplayed a throw at first that allowed Marcus Patton to reach and Daniel to score from second for the first run of the game.

The Cardinals did get a hit in the second, which came up big as the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead in the inning. Wendel led off with a walk and after Derrick Bruggeman struck out, Jared Cox moved Wendel to second on a groundout. After a wild pitch, Dylan Crisp reached on an error, Adam Meyer brought Wendel home and sent Crisp to third with a single. The Cardinals worked the delayed steal to perfection as Meyer held up long enough in a rundown to allow Crisp to score making it 2-1.

But that would be it for the Cardinals as Daniel allowed just one more hit and two more walks the rest of the game, striking out nine along the way.

"That was pretty much it, we couldn't get on base," said New Bremen coach Gregg McCollum. "Couldn't get nothing going really. We manufactured our two runs by baserunning.

"My hats off to (Daniel). He pitched a great game. He had our guys off-balanced. (Being) behind in the count really hurt."

The T-Bolts tied the game in the third when Brian Tolle came home on a throwing error by Wendel.

Another costly error resulted in what proved to be the game-winner in the fourth. Brad Dahm singled to lead off and Anthony Moeder tried to pick off Dahm at first, but Wendel, with the sun in his eyes, could not pick up the ball, Dahm was given third as the ball went out of the playing area. That was enough for Daniel to loft a deep enough fly to center to score the run and make it 3-2.

The Cardinals looked like they were ready to rally in the top of the sixth as Moeder led off with a deep trailing fly to left. Tyler Bergman kept a bead on the ball and made a great diving catch to deny the likely double.

"If that fell, it would have got things started," said coach McCollum. "He would have been standing on second with no outs. We could have bunted him over or something."

Daniel got stronger as the game went on, getting seven of his last 10 outs via the punchout.
New Bremen 13, Benjamin Logan 2 (six innings)

With several changes in the lineup due to vacations and an injury suffered by leadoff man and centerfielder Corey Jutte during a Friday football session, the Cardinals looked to get out quick against a Ben Logan team that entered at 11-10.

After getting single runs in the first and second innings, the Cardinals put the game away for good with two runs in the third. Wendel brought in Moeder with a double to make it 3-2. Then after going to third, Wendel and Jared Cox ran the delayed double steal to perfection to make it 4-2.

Insurance came in a big way in the fourth inning as the Cardinals sent nine men to the plate and brought in five runs. Moeder drove in two runs with a single and Wendel hit his second straight double to bring in another run.

"We started scoring early and just kept going," said coach McCollum. "We had a lot of big hits by a number of different people."

That was all that Wendel needed to clamp down on the Raiders. The Cardinal southpaw scattered seven hits and just one walk over six innings, striking out a half-dozen along the way.

The only hiccup the Raiders gave the Cardinals came in the bottom of the fourth. Ben Logan had the bases loaded twice in the inning, but got only two runs. The big play came when Drew Houchin grounded back to Wendel, who started a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.

"That was a key play," said coach McCollum. "The defense played well considering we had to move a few guys around with the injury to Corey.

"They stepped up. We always say it takes 14 guys. They stepped up to do the job. That's what I'm more proud of than anything."

Moeder went 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Wendel was joined by Barlage, Bruggeman, Cox, Crisp and Meyer in collecting two hits. Every Cardinal in the lineup had at least one hit.