The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes and St. Louis Cardinals have a lot in common.
As the regular season winds down, both teams are playing their best baseball.
The Wooden Shoes stretched their winning steak to six after posting a doubleheader sweep at home Saturday over Putnam County.
T-Town scored in just one inning in both games, but it was enough to come away with a pair of wins – 9-0 in the opener and 1-0 in the nightcap. Both games were five innings.
Sam Bushur and Tyler Pruemer were both outstanding on the mound. Both turned in one-hit shutouts.
Bushur worked the opener and retired the first 10 batters he faced before giving up a one-out single in the fourth. He struck out eight and walked just one, Pruemer gave up a base hit in the third. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.
The Shoes scored all nine of their runs in the second inning of the first game – and all nine were unearned. Derek Konkel started it by reaching first when he struck out, but the ball got away from the catcher. Logan Roepke reached on an error and Dylan Pruemer singled to load the bases. The first two runs scored when Caleb Siemer walked and Cade Buehnerkemper lifted a sacrifice fly.
After Luke Koester reached on an error to load the bases again, the next four batters delivered hits. Bushur had a two-run single, Mitch Althoff followed with an RBI base hit, Kayden Althoff drove home a pair with a double and Konkel added a run-scoring single. The final tally scored on a wild pitch.
Five of the Shoes seven hits came in that at-bat.
In the second game, THS pushed across its run in the bottom of the first. After the first two batters were retired, Brayden Gaddis singled, Siemer walked and Joey Ruholl delivered a base hit to drive in what proved to be the winning tally – and all the support Tyler Pruemer needed.
T-Town finished with five hits.
The Shoes have now won 9 of their last 10 games and improved to 12-8 on the season. They are scheduled to play at home today (Monday) against Dieterich.
Derek Konkel blasted a first-inning, three-run homer and the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes then used a three-run fifth to break a tie, en route to a 7-4 victory Friday at St. Anthony.
It was the seventh win in eight games for the Shoes and avenged a 16-12 loss to the Bulldogs earlier in the season.
It started off great for the guests. The first four batters all reached base.
Sam Bushur and Mitch Althoff walked to start the game. Kayden Althoff singled up the middle to drive in Bushur and Konkel followed with a three-run shot that sailed over the leftfield fence that staked T-Town to the quick 4-0 lead.
The Bulldogs rallied to tie the game in the second. Brody Niebrugge walked and Beau Adams reached on an error. A wild pitch allowed the first run to score. Then with two outs, Eli Levitt singled and another error loaded the bases. Angelo Mendella lined a base hit to drive in two and Colton Fearday capped the four-run frame with an RBI single.
It stayed 4-4 until the pivotal fifth. Bushur, again, led things off with a base hit. An error and a single by Kayden Althoff loaded the bases. Konkel grounded into a double play, but the go-ahead run scored. Before the inning was over, Logan Roepke and Cade Buehnerkemper delivered two-out, run-scoring singles to put the Shoes up by three runs.
The Bulldogs were limited to just four hits and only one after the four-run second. That was a lead-off single by Brock Fearday leading off the sixth.
Kayden Althoff almost turned in a complete game. He went 6.2 innings, but was forced to leave after reaching the pitch count. He threw 106. Althoff allowed four hits and four unearned runs, while striking out eight and walking two. Burhnerkemper came in to get the final out.
Colton Fearday took the loss. He went the first 4.2 innings, allowing seven hits and seven runs, but only four were earned. He struck out six and walked four. Levitt pitched the final 2.1 innings and held THS scoreless, giving up just one hit.
The Bulldogs had their four-game winning streak snapped and dipped to 12-5 on the season. They are scheduled to play Monday at Odin.
T-Town improved to 10-8. The Shoes played host to Putnam County today (Saturday).
The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes continued their improved play of late, notching their fourth win in the last five games with a 9-4 victory at home Monday over Odin.
After a scoreless first inning, the Shoes scored in each of the next four frames to build a 9-0 lead. T-Town scored a single tally in the second, added three runs in the third and fourth and wrapped up the scoring with a two-run fifth.
The Shoes had just five hits in the game, but took advantage of two Odin errors, plus seven walks.
Derek Konkel blasted a two-run homer in the fourth and Kayden Althoff had an RBI single in the third.
Dylan Pruemer pitched the first 3.1 innings and blanked Odin on just one hit. He struck out five and walked four while throwing 74 pitches. Caleb Siemer pitched 2.2 innings and Ben Goeckner struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh.
The Shoes are now 7-8 on the season. They will play at home Wednesday against Windsor/Stew-Stras.
For the first time this fall, the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes are above the .500 mark.
The Shoes got to that point by sweeping a doubleheader Thursday from Altamont, improving their record to 9-8 on the season.
T-Town got a walk-off 3-2 win in the opener and then completed the sweep with a 4-1 win in the nightcap. Altamont dipped to 10-6.
In the opener, the game was knotted at 2-2 when the Shoes came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. An error started the at-bat, but the runner was still at first base with two outs when Mitch Althoff singled.
Then after not receiving a walk the entire game, Kayden Althoff coaxed a walk and Konkel followed with another, literally giving the Shoes a “walk-off” win.
The game was close throughout.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the third. Dillan Elam got a lead-off double, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Stuemke.
The Shoes responded by scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning. Sam Bushur lined a one-out double. Then with two outs, Kayden Althoff singled to drive in Bushur. Althoff stole second and scored on an RBI single by Derek Konkel.
Altamont tied the game in the fourth. Jared Hammer led off with a base hit and later scored on a single by Elam.
Konkel pitched a complete game for THS and got the win. He allowed seven hits and two runs. He struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. Tyler Robbins took the loss for Altamont. He also went all the way, allowing five hits and three runs, while striking out two and walking those final two batters.
In the nightcap, Teutopolis scored single tallies in the fourth, fifth and sixth to break a 1-1 tie.
The Shoes grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second. Logan Roepke and Joey Ruholl both walked and Luke Koester singled to load the bases. With two outs, Bushur drew a walk to force in the run.
Altamont tied the game in the third. With two outs, Mason Robinson doubled to right, went to third on a base hit by Robbins and scored on an error.
The Shoes scored the go-ahead run in the fourth on a wild pitch, Koester added an RBI single in the fifth and an error accounted for the tally in the sixth.
Ben Goeckner, the second of three pitchers for T-Town, got the win. He relieved Cade Buehnerkemper in the third. He gave up four hits and a run in 2.2 innings of work. Caleb Siemer pitched the final two innings to record the save. Hammer took the loss for Altamont.
The Shoes have now won six of their last seven games. They will be back in action today (Friday) at St. Anthony.
Holden Clifton and Logan Fleener delivered run-scoring hits in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday, giving the North Clay Cardinals a 6-4 victory over Teutopolis in the championship game of the North Clay Classic.
The Shoes trailed 3-0 after the first inning, but battled back and eventually tied the game when Derek Konkel blasted an 0-1 pitch over the leftfield fence for a solo home run in the top of the sixth.
But Collyn Ballard started the Cardinals winning rally with a lead-off double in the bottom of the frame. Clifton put the hosts on top with a one-out double and Fleener capped the scoring with a two-out single.
The Shoes were retired in order in the seventh.
North Clay took a 3-0 lead in the opening inning. Fleener had an RBI single, Dakota Weidner drew a bases-loaded walk and the final run scored on a wild pitch.
The Shoes responded with a three-run inning of their own in the second. After the first batter was retired, Logan Roepke, Dylan Pruemer and Caleb Siemer had back-to-back-to-back singles. After Siemer’s base hit, an error by the North Clay outfielder allowed two runs to cross the plate. Cade Buehnerkemper also had a base hit and the second error of the inning accounted for the third run.
North Clay resumed the lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Donnie Zimmerman and Konkel knotted the score with his round-tripper in the sixth.
Sam Bushur pitched the first five innings for T-Town and took the loss. He gave up six hits and five runs, while walking four and striking out three. Clifton went the distance for the Cardinals and got the win. He gave up six hits and four runs. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter, while throwing 97 pitches.
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