EFFINGHAM — St. Anthony fans who attended Monday afternoon’s National Trail Conference tournament game against Dieterich might tell you that the Bulldogs were robbed.

    Indeed, it looked that way after a controversial play in the bottom of the fifth inning when Zach McLeod was called out for running inside the basepaths after a called third strike. Reed Willenborg hit the very next pitch beyond the wall in left field, and what could have been a 2-2 tie garnered only one Bulldog run. In between, St. Anthony assistant coach Dave McDevitt, coaching first base, argued the call with the field umpire and was ejected from the game.

    So Bulldog backers were understandably angry watching from the bleachers at Evergreen Hollow Park. In their eyes, they were robbed.

    But St. Anthony head coach Kenny Miller didn’t see it that way.

    “Maybe one led to the other, but a lot of people would go, ‘Well that play cost you being 2-2,’ and I just don’t know about that,” Miller said after the dust had cleared and Dieterich won 2-1. “To be honest, we’d probably bunt in that situation, so I know we don’t hit the home run if that happens.

    “So did that cost us the game? I don’t think so. At the time, it’s a huge call and everyone wants to sit out here in the crowd and say, ‘Well it would have been 2-2’... but I probably don’t turn him loose in that situation.”

     Willenborg’s homer was an offensive bright spot for the Bulldogs (14-5) in a game dominated by pitching.

    Dieterich starter Taran Bohnhoff, in his first start of the season, shut the Bulldog offense down with a variety of pitches, including a nasty cutter.

     “(The cutter) was really working for me,” the senior lefty said. “They either swung and missed or pounded it right into the ground for a groundout.”

    Bohnoff went six innings for the Movin’ Maroons (12-8), getting the win and giving up only three hits and striking out three. Aside from the home run, the only other two hits were singles.

     “All the pitchers that pitched today did a great job,” Miller said. “I’ve got to hand it to Taran, he did a fantastic job. That was his first outing of the year, and he kept us off-balance all day.”   

    For the Bulldogs, Willenborg started and went 3 1/3 innings. He had decent control in the first three innings, not walking anyone, but struggled in the top of the fourth. After he walked Sam Theole and Seth Flach, he forced a groundout from Derek Cox that moved both runners into scoring position.

     After throwing two not-even-close balls to Bohnhoff, Hecht came in to relieve Willenborg. Bohnhoff walked, filling the bases with one out.

    The Maroons ended up scoring two runs thanks to two St. Anthony errors.

    First, Neil Theole hit a grounder to shortstop for what should have been an easy 6-4-3 double play. But something went wrong on the exchange from shortstop Patrick Shutzbach and second baseman Mitch Dasenbrock. Everyone was safe, including Same Theole, who scored the first run of the game to make it 1-0.

    Once Hecht struck out Brandon Westjohn for the second out, a ground ball from Nathan Garbe should have gotten the Bulldogs out of the inning with limited damage. However, Schutzbach’s throw to first was off-target and once again, everyone was safe.

    Dalton Hinterscher struck out to end the inning but the damage was done — those were the only two runs the Maroons would need.

    VanScyoc was happy that his team was able to capitalize on their situation in a game that was mostly devoid of offense.

    “There weren’t too many hits for either side, and we were able to capitalize on the one situation we had where we had guys on base and were able to get two across,” he said.

    Aside from the home run, scoring chances were in short supply after that. The Bulldogs had a chance to make it interesting in the sixth inning with one out and runners on first and third but they couldn’t capitalize. Ben Hecht hit a screaming line drive to shortstop for the second out and Zach McLeod a hard grounder to third for the third out. Both times, the Dieterich fielders were on top of it and prevented anything from crossing the plate.

     “In the sixth they dang well should have scored,” he said. “And we had a missed sign in the seventh, where we should have been bunting that kind of cost us.”

    Willenborg walked against Deiterich ace Sam Theole to kick off the second but his pinch runner Austin Bushur was caught stealing after missing a sign to bunt.  Theole struck out the next two batters to earn the save.

    “We should have been bunting, but it might not made much of a difference,” Miller said. “We had the eight and nine guys coming up, and with Sammy, that’s going to be a tough order.”

    In all, neither coach was surprised by how the game played out.

    “This was really a resemblence to the last game we played against them at our place,” VanScyoc said. St. Anthony beat Deiterich 4-3 in nine innings in that game.

    Miller was even less surprised.

    “It’s a tough loss to swallow for us, but are we surprised that it was a close game with Dieterich? No,” Miller said. “The seeds seeds in this tournament, they didn’t mean a lot, at least two through seven. I don’t know what else happened today but I wouldn’t have bet anything on those games.”

    With the win, Dieterich moves on to the semifinals to take on the winner of the Windsor/Beecher City-Cowden-Herrick game, which wasn’t complete at presstime. Garbe will get the start for the Maroons, according to VanScyoc.

    St. Anthony will host the loser of the Windsor/BCCH game in the consolation bracket.