After dropping five of their first six games, the Eagles have gone 19-5 since and showed why throughout the game. They banged out 11 hits, took advantage of five THS errors, got good pitching and made several nice plays in the field.

“Columbia is a good team with a solid program,” Teutopolis coach Justin Fleener said. “They hit the ball, they play good defense and they’re pitcher threw hard. Things just didn’t go our way today.”

And that started in the very first inning.

With one out, Matt Howard got a base hit and one out later, Jackson Holmes walked. Dom Voegele then lined a single to right that drove in the first run of the game. And when the throw to the plate got past catcher Logan Roepke, the second run came across and staked the Eagles to the quick 2-0 lead.

The Shoes had a good opportunity to respond in the bottom of the frame. Kayden Althoff drew a one-out walk and Evan Wermert lined a pitch up the middle that glanced off the pitcher’s foot and rolled into shallow right field, leaving runners at first and third. But the next two batters were retired to end the threat.

“That first inning could have been huge for us, but we didn’t get the big hit,” Fleener noted. “But that’s baseball. Through the years, and even during this season, there have been many times we have gotten that big hit. It just didn’t happen today and things kind of piled up on us.”

Columbia took control by scoring in each of the first four innings. They batted around in both the second and third, scoring three times in the second and adding five tallies in the third, and then finished its scoring with a three-run fourth.

Howard and No. 9 hitter Jonah James both finished the game with three hits. Howard also knocked in three runs, while Holmes and James had a pair of RBI.

“If we get that last out and get out of that first inning, maybe things are a little different,” Fleener said. “But we left some pitches up, plus we had some miscues. And they’re a good hitting team. Things just started to snowball and we had a hard time stopping it.”

On the mound, Holmes was taking care of business. He scattered six hits and allowed just two runs in the fourth. He walked three and struck out six.

A speed gun at the game clocked one of his fastballs at 95 mph and several others in the 90-91 range. Coach Fleener admitted Holmes was throwing hard, but didn’t think it was over 90 mph.

“We’ve faced some guys that throw hard,” Fleener said. “But in the sectional, there’s a little more pressure on the guys. Hitting against a mid-80s fastball in the middle of the season is different that facing a mid-80s fastball in the postseason. But he definitely threw hard and pitched a good game.”

The Shoes did get on the scoreboard in the fourth. Dylan Pruemer got a one-out single. Roepke then struck out, but the pitch hit the dirt first. An errant throw by the catcher allowed Roepke to go all the way to second and allowed Pruemer to race to third.

Derek Deters then drew a walk. Ball four resulted in a passed ball that let Pruemer score from third. Sam Bushur then followed with an infield single that drove home the second run.

The Shoes finished with six hits and had runners in scoring position each of the first four innings.

Andy Niebrugge was the starter for T-Town and took the loss. He worked the first 1.2 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs. He walked two and struck out one. Hayden Ruholl, Althoff and Konkel also pitched in the game.

The Shoes ended their season with a 21-10 record.

Fleener will say goodbye to five seniors – Evan Addis, Derek Deters, Evan Wermert, Hayden Ruholl and Andy Niebrugge.

 “I want to thank our seniors for continuing to play solid Wooden Shoes baseball,” Fleener said. “I appreciate them coming out and giving me their trust and doing everything we asked them to do. They take a lot of pride in this program and I’m very proud of them.”