Tigers denied district baseball title
WCLT downs Ventura, loses to Sentral in final
By ERIC VANSICKLE, News-Tribune Sportswriter
The Woden-Crystal Lake-Titonka baseball team is the Class 1A District 4 runners-up after losing the district final game Monday night, 13-7, to Sentral of Fenton in Bancroft.
The Tigers advanced to the district final game with a 15-10 win over Ventura in Buffalo Center Friday night.
WCLT ended the season 17-10-1.
Tigers 15, Ventura 10
BUFFALO CENTER - The Tigers scored in every inning but the seventh against Ventura, but the Vikings tried a daunted comeback in the late innings.
However, the Tigers' offense was too far ahead in their 15-10 district semi-final game Friday night here.
Scott Meinders was 3-for-5 at the plate, just a home run short of the cycle, and had four RBIs, and Trevor Arnold added a 2-for-5 night with a double and four RBIs of his own.
Tigers coach Beany Bode said the Tigers did a good job of being patient at the plate in the first five innings.
"(Every time they did that,) it paid off because every time they got their pitch, they line-drived it," Bode said. "We worked a lot this week of not hitting pop ups on the pitchers we were going to see, and we did that."
Derek Schutjer got the win on the mound, going four-plus innings, giving up four hits, three earned runs, and a walk as he struck out seven.
Schutjer had a no-hitter through his first four innings, but the first four batters got their hits - three singles and a double - which chased him from the mound.
"Schutjer had come a long way this year," said Bode. "He has definitely staked a claim for himself as a top pitcher for next year. He really developed a nice breaking ball. He hit the strike zone so consistently."
Among the seven Ks, one was looking, and Schutjer struck out the side in order in the third.
David Tjaden put out the fire in the fifth, allowing just one more run to score with one hit and one walk.
Arnold finished the game for the Tigers, with just two more earned runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out two.
Sentral 13, Tigers 7
BANCROFT - Sentral was in control from the second inning on, and the Tigers couldn't get any early runs against Spartan pitcher Jeff Struecker.
Then an eight-run seventh inning put the game out of reach, before the Tigers rallied in the bottom of the inning to make the final 13-7.
"We played outstanding defense through six innings," Bode said. "Then we made two errors, and that opened the flood gates. We never knew that we would have rallied for seven, and everyone wished we would have just played better defense then.
"If you take away that seventh inning, then you'd get the idea how the game was for both teams."
Bode said Struecker was able to change speeds well, confusing the Tiger hitters, although Hanna and Meinders were each able to get a triple.
The Tigers had a chance to get on the board in the fourth after Meinders' triple. Bode put on a suicide squeeze play with Schutjer at the plate, but Struecker threw a curve ball that Schutjer popped to the first baseman. The pop-up hung Meinders out to dry for a double play.
"If we didn't mess up the squeeze play, we could have rallied earlier," Bode said. "But you can't play the what-ifs."
Bode was happy overall of how the season turned out.
"The boys played well," he said. "A lot of the boys learned a lot, especially the underclassmen. I look forward to working with them next year."
Meinders, Arnold, Stone, Steve Tjaden and Casey Buns, who sat much of the late part of the season nursing a track injury, will depart the Tiger squad.
"The seniors wanted this game bad," Bode said. "But you can't just force things to happen."
Class 1A district semi-final
Friday at Buffalo Center
Tigers 15, Ventura 10
WCLT 412 143 0 - 15 11 4
Ventura 000 054 1 - 10 8 8
Derek Schutjer (W, 4+ IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), David Tjaden (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K), Trevor Arnold (2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and Arnold, Corey Squier (6). Eric Busch (L, 5 IP, 9 H, 12 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), Jake Brager (2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) and Brager, Ryan Nelson (6).
Hits - Scott Meinders 3-5, Arnold 2-5, Andrew Hanna 2-6, Steve Tjaden 1-2, Schutjer 1-5, Nolan Harmon 1-3, D. Tjaden 1-1. RBI - Arnold 4, Meinders 4, Schutjer, Stone, Heyer. 2B - Arnold, Meinders. 3B - Meinders. SAC - S. Tjaden. SF - Stone. SB - S. Tjaden 2, Harmon, Arnold, Schutjer. E - Schutjer 2, Stone, Arnold. DP - Thilges, S. Tjaden and Stone. LOB - WCLT 10, Ventura 4. WP - Schutjer, Arnold. BK - Arnold. HBP - S. Tjaden by Busch, Harmon by Busch.
Class 1A district final
Monday at Bancroft
Sentral 13, Tigers 7
Sentral 020 030 8 - 13 13 4
WCLT 000 000 7 - 7 7 4
Stone (L, 4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K), Arnold (2 2/3 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) and Arnold, Schutjer (5). Jeff Struecker (W, 6+ IP, 2 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), Jeremy Jensen (1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) and Dustin Nerem.
Hits - Hanna 1-4, S. Tjaden 1-4, Meinders 2-4, Schutjer 1-4, Harmon 1-4, Thilges 1-2. RBIs - Thilges 2, Hanna, Tjaden. 2B - Meinders, Thilges. 3B - Hanna, Meinders, S. Tjaden. E - Thilges 2, Schutjer, Arnold. DP - Luedtke and R. Boeckholt. LOB - Sentral 6, WCLT 4. SAC - Harmon, Hanna. PB - Schutjer, Nerem.
Story created Jul 20, 2004 - 09:34:08 CDT.
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