Sam Bushur pitched six strong innings and drove in three runs Saturday morning, leading the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes to a 5-3 victory over Putnam County in the first of two games.

In the second contest, the Shoes staged a big comeback after trailing by seven runs, but North Clay pushed across a run in the eighth inning to escape with a 9-8 decision.

In the opener, Bushur gave up a run in the opening inning, but then shut Putnam County down over the next five frames. The senior right-hander allowed just two hits over six innings of work, but left the game after throwing 104 pitches. He walked four and struck out 10. Dylan Pruemer pitched the seventh and allowed two unearned runs.

The Shoes took the lead in the third without benefit of a hit. They took advantage of three errors and two walks to go on top 2-1.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, when the Shoes put together a three-run rally. And it all started after two were out.

Logan Roepke singled, Pruemer walked and Ben Goeckner followed with an RBI base hit. After Caleb Bloemer singled to load the bases, Bushur delivered a base hit up the middle that drove home two more.

The nightcap was all North Clay through the first 4½ innings. They banged out 13 hits, including a home run by Carson Burkett and a two-run triple by Bryton Griffy, to build an 8-1 lead.

But the Shoes began their comeback in the bottom of the fifth by pushing across five runs. With one out, they strung together six straight hits. Mitch Althoff and Kayden Althoff got things started with back-to-back singles with one out. Derek Konkel and Roepke both drove in runs with base hits, Caleb Siemer followed with a two-run double and Pruemer capped the inning with an RBI double that trimmed the gap to 8-6.

T-Town tied the game in the sixth. With two outs, Kayden Althoff singled and Konkel followed with a two-run homer that sailed over the leftfield fence.

But in the top of the eighth, the Cardinals used a lead-off single by Donnie Zimmerman, followed by an error, a walk and a ground ball by Burkett to score the winning tally.

The Shoes finished with 14 hits in the game. Kayden Althoff had four and Pruemer collected three more to lead the way. Konkel had three RBI.

Siemer, who relieved in the fourth, pitched the final 4.1 innings and took the loss. Cade Buehnerkemper was the starter.

The Shoes are now 3-6 on the fall season. They will play today (Monday) at South Central.