And then he used his bat to put the Indians on top in the decisive eighth inning.
With one out, Jared Hammer walked but was forced at second base on a ground ball by Eirhart. A wild pitch allowed Eirhart to reach second base and he then scored with Teasley lined a 3-2 pitch down the right-field line and just out of the reach of St. Anthony outfielder Brody Niebrugge.
“I knew Noah was coming up and I knew he would put a competitive bat together,” Whitt said. “He really came through for us.”
Kreke said he considered walking Teasley.
“He’s a good hitter, but (Hunter) Cripe (the next batter) is a good hitter, too,” Kreke explained. “With Kaden (Fearday) on the mound, I felt like we could get Teasley out. But he was able to barrel it up and hit it well.”
The game certainly started in St. Anthony’s favor.
With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Antrim lined a base hit over the shortstop’s head. Then with two outs, Davis Tingley hit a drive over the centerfielder’s head for an RBI triple and Aaron Webb followed with a double into the right-centerfield gap to stake the Bulldogs to a quick 2-0 lead.
“We came out and threw the first punch, but then we got away from that,” Kreke noted. “We started out aggressive at the plate, but then got away from that approach. Altamont brought a lot of intensity tonight and we didn’t match it.”
Altamont started its comeback in the third. Hammer got a one-out single, went to second on a passed ball, to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fly ball by Eirhart.
Hammer tied the score in the fifth when he smashed the first pitch he saw over the leftfield fence.
The Indians threatened to take the lead in the top of the seventh when Tyler Robbins lined a pitch down the leftfield line for a lead-off double. The next batter, Brayden Stuemke, then hit a line drive. But St. Anthony second baseman Aaron Webb caught it and turned it into double play when Robbins broke for third.
The Bulldogs also received a terrific pitching performance from Gavin Braunecker. The senior lefty went seven innings and threw 106 pitches. He allowed five hits and two runs, while walking one and striking out 13.
“Gavin was great,” Kreke said. “He’s been our go-to guy all year.”
Both teams ended the season with 17-7 records. St. Anthony has now been in the fall NTC Tournament seven straight years, but the Indians snapped the Bulldogs’ string of five straight championships.
“The fall is our developmental season. It gets us ready for spring,” Whitt said. “But when the NTC tourney comes around, the boys get pretty excited. It’s good to see how you do when competing in the big games.”
“It’s been a long fall season,” Kreke noted. “We had a lot of holes to fill and I’m proud of this team and how they battled. You can win with pitching and defense, but we have to figure out a way to get our bats going and score some runs.
“Altamont came ready to play tonight,” Kreke added. “Coach Whitt is a great person and a great coach. He gets his boys to play hard. He’s got a great culture there in Altamont. We’ll learn from this game and we’ll be ready to go again next spring.”
