TEUTOPOLIS — Jordan Waldhoff and Ben Hecht saw to it that Friday’s baseball game between Teutopolis and St. Anthony lived up to the hype.
So much so, that there will be an encore.
Teams that have combined to win three state titles in the past three sesasons, and who were a combined 25-1 on the season coming into Friday’s clash, were engaged in a classic pitcher’s duel.
Teutopolis came out on top, 1-0, by scratching across a run without the ball leaving the infield, and improved to 14-0 on the season.
The Bulldogs dropped their second consecutive one-run decision and are 12-2.
On Monday, the Bulldogs and Wooden Shoes will meet again. That game was added to the schedule on Thursday. First pitch at Teutopolis will be at 4:30 p.m.
Waldhoff and Hecht each allowed two hits. Waldhoff had nine strikeouts, and Hect had five. But the breaks didn’t go Hecht’s way in the sixth, and the Shoes capatilized to take a 1-0 lead.
Three outs from victory, Waldhoff began the seventh with two strikeouts, pitched around a two-out error, and got a routine, game-ending groundout.
“Both pitchers just did a great job,” Wooden Shoes coach Justin Fleener said. “I was just proud that our hitters stayed postive and kept battling the entire game.”
With one out in the sixth, Teutopolis catcher Alex Goldstein hit a sharp grounder to the left of St. Anthony shortstop Neil Williams. The ball took a high bounce and glanced off Williams’ arm for a single.
A wild pitch and passed ball had Goldstein perched at third, and Bobby Wenthe at second after drawing a walk.
Facing a 1-2 count, the Shoes’ Kyle Pruemer hit a grounder that St. Anthony third baseman Sean Rentfrow dove for but could only knock down as Goldstein scored the game’s lone run.
“That’s just the way the game goes,” Bulldogs coach Kenny Miller said. “We played well and they played well. It was just a good high school baseball game and we came up on the short end.”
St. Anthony’s best shot against Waldhoff came in the top of the sixth. After the first two Bulldog hitters grounded out, Hecht drew a walk and went to second when Eli Dasenbrock reached on an error. But Waldhoff induced a routine popup from Austin Bushur to escape trouble.
The Bulldogs also got a leadoff walk from Jacob Lorenz in the third, but Waldhoff got out of that when Hecht bounced into a 6-4-3 double play.
Teutopolis left the bases loaded in the second, and standed runners at second and third in the fifth.
Teutopolis 1, St. Anthony 0
St. Anthony 000 000 0 — 0 2 0
Teutopolis 000 001 x — 1 2 3
WP: Jordan Waldhoff 7 IP, 2H, 3BB, 9K. LP: Ben Hecht 6 IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 4BB, 5K.
St. Anthony: Jacob Lorenz 0-2, BB; Neil Williams 0-3; Ben Hecht 1-2, BB; Eli Dasenbrock 0-3; Austin Bushur 0-3; Jeff Niebrugge 0-1, BB; Alex Hoelscher 0-1; Zac Gardewine 1-3; Scott Rentfrow 0-3; Neil Ritz 0-3.
Teutopolis: Jordan Waldhoff 0-3; DXXX Smith 0-3; Alex Goldstein 1-3; Bobby Wenthe 0-2, BB; Chase Wendling 0-2, BB; Kyle Pruemer 1-1, BB, RBI; xxxxx Gillespie 0-2; xxxx Nosbisch 0-2; Reid Hardiek 0-1, BB.
