By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

22-16.

No, that’s not the final score of a local football game, although this baseball game lasted almost as long.

It’s what happens when the wind is howling at nearly 20 mph and blowing straight out of the ballpark.

It was like playing at Wrigley Field when the wind is blowing out. Every pop-up was an adventure and every fly ball had a chance at being a home run.

For the record, the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes were on the winning side Tuesday of the game at home with Benton that started in the afternoon sunshine and ended three hours later with the lights on.

In addition to the 38 runs scored, the game featured 33 hits, including four home runs, 17 walks, nine hit batters and a total of 326 pitches thrown.

If this game had been shown on ESPN, it would have been dubbed an “Instant Classic.”

“I don’t remember being in a game like this ever before,” THS coach Justin Fleener said. “But the ball just kept finding the grass or flying over the fence. The pitchers struggled, but I think the wind had something to do with that, too. We like to hang our hat on pitching and defense, but we needed our bats today. And like you saw, both teams had plenty of guys that can hit the ball.”

The tone was set immediately when Benton’s lead-off hitter Dillon Poe blasted the second pitch of the game over the centerfield fence. Later in that same inning, TJ Cocke belted a three-run homer that capped a six-run uprising and staked the Rangers to the early lead.

“At that point, I just wanted us to compete,” Fleener noted. “Give credit to the guys. They didn’t lay down. They just got going. I think the thing that helped us the most was coming back and scoring two runs ourselves in the bottom of the first. We just had to keep chipping away.”

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Cade Buehnerkemper pitched a complete game and Sam Bushur hit a home run, helping the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes post a 9-2 victory at Marshall.

Buehnerkemper allowed just three hits in his 95-pitch performance. He walked five and struck out seven.

Marshall scored two runs in the opening inning to grab the early lead, but the Shoes then scored in each of the final five frames to come away with the win.

T-Town tied the game in the third. Logan Roepke was hit by a pitch and Bushur then belted a pitch over the centerfield fence for a two-run homer.

The Shoes grabbed the lead for good with a three-run fourth. Derek Konkel and Hayden Ruholl both walked and Dylan Pruemer followed with a run-scoring single. Two more runs scored on errors to give THS a 5-2 lead.

Teutopolis then scored a single tally in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Konkel; added two runs in the sixth on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Kayden Althoff; and combined a walk, single and error to tack on a final run in the seventh.

The Shoes, now 4-1, will play at home today (Friday) against St. Joe-Ogden. Game time is 4:30 p.m.

THS will play two games at home Saturday. The first one will pit the Fleener brothers – Justin, the head coach at T-Town; and Chris, the head coach at Fairfield – against each other. That game will begin at 10 a.m. The Shoes will then play Putnam County at 2 p.m.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

Despite trailing by four runs in the sixth, Teutopolis baseball coach Justin Fleener still liked his team’s chances.

“Those last two innings, our approach at the plate got a lot better,” he explained. “Earlier in the game, we were swinging and missing much more than we normally do. We have to cut down on those. But later, we took a lot more quality at-bats and started swing the bats better.”

The final result certainly supports that.

The Shoes scored three runs in the sixth and then got a key two-run, walk-off double by Kayden Althoff in the bottom of the seventh to give T-Town a come-from-behind 8-7 victory at home Saturday in the opening game of a doubleheader against Fairfield.

THS completed the sweep by scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth to come away with a 6-5 decision in the nightcap.

A young Mules team, coached by Fleener’s younger brother Chris, scored three runs in the top of the sixth to open a 7-3 lead. But the Shoes began their rally in the bottom of that frame.

With one out, Sam Bushur and Althoff received back-to-back walks. Then with two outs, Andy Niebrugge grounded a single just past a diving second baseman to drive in the first run. Evan Addis followed with a ground ball single between third and shortstop to drive in the tying run and Derek Konkel followed with a ground ball deep in the hole and beat the throw to drive home a run and close the gap to 7-6.

Then in the seventh, Dylan Pruemer led off with another soft ground ball deep in the hole and again beat the throw to get the winning rally started. After a sacrifice bunt by Logan Roepke, Sam Bushur got yet another infield single and then stole second to put both runners in scoring position.

Althoff fell behind 0-2, but then lined a pitch into the left-field corner, allowing both Pruemer and Bushur to race home on the walk-off double.

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There’s nothing like a 14-run inning to turn a game into a rout.

But that’s exactly what the Teutopolis baseball team did Monday afternoon.

The Shoes sent 20 batters to the plate and combined 10 hits, five walks, two errors and a wild pitch to push 14 runs across the plate in the fourth inning and finished with an 18-1 victory at Neoga.

T-Town had a 4-1 lead entering the fourth. Before the explosion ended, the Shoes scored one run on a wild pitch, two runs on errors and two more on bases loaded walks. Derek Konkel had two hits in the inning, driving in one run with a single and then two more with a double. Andrew Niebrugge and Logan Roepke both had two-run doubles, Evan Addis added an RBI double and Dylan Pruemer had a base hit that also drove home a run.

The Shoes scored two runs in the top of the first without getting a hit. Sam Bushur and Kayden Althoff were both hit by a pitch and Andrew Niebrugge walked to load the bases. The first run scored when Dylan Pruemer was hit by a pitch and Konkel followed with a walk that forced home another run.

Even Wermert had a two-out RBI single in the second and Max Niebrugge added a run-scoring base hit in the third.

THS finished with 13 hits and received nine walks. Ten different batters had at least one hit, with Bushur, Konkel and Max Niebrugge each having two. Konkel drove in four runs.

Bushur was the winning pitcher. He went the first three innings, allowing two hits and one run. He walked one and struck out two. Konkel pitched the final inning.

The Shoes, now 3-1, will return home today (Tuesday) for a doubleheader with Altamont. The first game is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. THS will then play Thursday at Marshall and Friday at home against St. Joe-Ogden.