The Daily Standard
Story Archive
St. Henry's Jacob Schwieterman gets the throw as Minster's Dylan Heitkamp slides into second base on an attempted steal in the fifth inning.
MINSTER - Last Thursday, St. Henry did Minster a favor by knocking off Versailles, opening the door for the Wildcats to share the Midwest Athletic Conference baseball title with the Tigers.
Wednesday, the Redskins did everything they could to keep Minster from taking advantage.
St. Henry's Lucas Clune kept the Wildcats scoreless through six innings, but Louis Magoto matched him pitch for pitch, and Tyler Stueve delivered a walkoff single in the seventh to give Minster a 1-0 win and a share of its first MAC title since 2013.
"We're very happy to have it," Minster coach Mike Wiss said. "This group has worked really hard to get where they are."
St. Henry stranded eight runners, seven in scoring position, with Minster (18-4, 8-1 MAC) coming through on defense with several key plays to keep the Redskins off the board.
"Pretty great high school baseball game, if you weren't a fan of either team," St. Henry coach Mike Gast said. "Or at least not a fan of the St. Henry Redskins."
Clune got a groundout to open the seventh, then walked Alex Schmitmeyer on five pitches and Connor Schmiesing on a full count.
That was enough to bring out Gast, who turned to junior David Clune to try to get out of the jam.
"He's one that hasn't thrown quite as much this spring, so just trying to make sure he's good to go for tournament, honestly," Gast said of Lucas Clune. "It would've been really nice to keep him in there and pull this one out, but if it's keeping him in there and potentially getting some soreness, get him out for a couple weeks with a sore arm or something - I don't know what he ended up with, about 105 (pitches) - but a couple walks in the seventh, just felt like the right time to get him out."
David Clune missed the zone on his first two pitches to Dylan Heitkamp, with the second getting by catcher Caden Bergman to move Schmiesing and pinch runner Noah Schwieterman up a base. Gast sent Heitkamp to first to get a forceout at any base, bringing up Stueve.
Stueve looked at three pitches out of the zone and two more for strikes, then slammed a ball down the left field line over the head of Logan Link, scoring Schwieterman easily for the game-winner.
"He's our vocal leader on the team," Wiss said of Stueve. "When it got to a full count, one out - 'Have at it, buddy.' And he delivered."
The three innings before that, it was St. Henry knocking on the door. In the fifth, Magoto walked Carter LaGuire and gave up a single to Link to start the inning.
Devin Delzeith hit a grounder to the left side, but third baseman James Niemeyer made a diving stop, then lunged to tag LaGuire going past.
Minster third baseman James Niemeyer makes a diving play as St. Henry's Carter LaGuire heads for third and shortstop Tyler Stueve backs up the play at Melcher Street Park on Wednesday. Niemeyer managed to tag LaGuire for the first out of the fifth inning.
Hayden Boeckman then sliced a line drive into right field, but Adam Rindler threw himself into a full-extension dive to make the catch. Link was already on his way home, and by the time he pulled up, Rindler and Schwieterman relayed the ball to Stueve for the double play.
"They made a few really good plays in the field," Gast said. "Diving play at third base on a tag of a runner going to third base. Great, great play on just a missile to right field by Hayden Boeckman. That gets by him, I think Hayden's probably coming around to score on that too."
Boeckman ran into more batted-ball luck in the seventh after Delzeith singled, hitting a sharp grounder up the middle to Stueve.
Stueve stepped on second and threw to Ian Homan at first for another double play.
"Those two double plays were huge," Wiss said. "But everybody had chances. We had one opportunity in the seventh inning."
The sixth inning was an even better chance for the Redskins. Lucas Clune was hit by a pitch, and Logan Dehan and Bergman worked back-to-back walks to load the bases with no outs.
Drew Schwieterman hit a fly ball down the left field line, but Rylan Edwards got the ball in fast enough to keep pinch runner Emmitt LaBrun from tagging up. Magoto then struck out Jacob Schwieterman, and LaGuire hit a bloop into shallow right field, where Noah Schwieterman ran it down to end the threat.
"We talked about it yesterday: 'There's going to be one or two innings, in every high school baseball game that's a good game, that you're going to have to get out of,' " Wiss said. "They had bases loaded and nobody out. We got out of that sucker."
St. Henry (12-10, 6-3 MAC) put runners in scoring position each of the first four innings, including the leadoff hitter in the first two, and did so with fewer than two outs three times.
Minster had a chance in the first inning, as Heitkamp was hit by a pitch, stole second and went to third on a bunt. Niemeyer walked, and Lucas Clune picked him off first before striking out Homan to end the inning.
The Redskins starter worked around leadoff singles in the second and third. Bergman threw out Heitkamp trying to steal in the fifth, and with two runners on with one out in the sixth, Clune got a flyout in foul territory and a strikeout to keep the game scoreless.
"The first inning, he kind of got into trouble right away, but worked through that," Gast said. "Then he was really good the rest of the night."
Minster's Louis Magoto threw a shutout, holding St. Henry to three hits, three walks and four hit batsmen.
Magoto struck out seven in the complete-game win, allowing three hits and three walks while hitting four batters.
Minster plays Lincolnview tonight while St. Henry hosts Lima Central Catholic. They have a chance at a rematch in the Division IV Coldwater district final.
"Really appreciate having that game as close to tournament as it is," Gast said. "There was a very tournament-like atmosphere here."
