Spartan baseball season ends in heartbreaker
COUNCIL BLUFFS (July 17) -- For nearly six innings Saturday night, Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton junior Tyler Kingery was doing what just one team has managed to accomplish all season: hold a potent St. Albert baseball lineup without any runs.
The unheralded, but gutsy, Spartans were outplaying the fourth-ranked Falcons and had them on the ropes, up 2-0 in a Class 1A district final at Wolever Field.
St. Albert, though, found a way to avoid the big upset, using small-ball tactics and aggressive base running to rally past the Spartans 3-2.
The game ended in dramatic fashion when Falcon senior Eric Matthai was called safe on a bang-bang play at the plate in the bottom of the seventh.
Matthai opened the inning by slapping a soft single over shortstop against Exira-EHK reliever Tyler Petersen. The next batter, Jeff Miller, put down a near-perfect bunt along the first base line. Petersen’s throw to first ended up going down the right field line and Matthai never stopped running.
The throw in from right was off-line but secured in foul territory by Kingery (playing catcher), who flipped the ball to Petersen covering the plate. Petersen received the ball ahead of Matthai’s slide and appeared to apply the tag, but Matthai was called safe amidst a cloud of dust.
St. Albert (31-8) advanced to Tuesday’s Substate 7 final vs. No. 9 CAM (25-6) at Glenwood. The Spartans, who were ousted by the Falcons 16-2 in last year’s district semifinals, finished 11-14 but were certainly playing their best baseball at the right time.
“My kids played their asses off and I’m proud as hell of them,” said Exira-EHK head coach Tom Petersen.
“When you have a little bit of time off and a little bit of preparation, anything can happen in this game... I thought we were playing our best baseball exactly when you want to be, and like I told them, ‘Hey, they had the same record we did. We were both 2-0 [in district play]... You don’t have to be a better baseball team to win. You just have to be better for two hours,’ and tonight we gave them everything that we could.”
St. Albert, which won its first two district games by scores of 15-0 and 13-2, seemed flat on Saturday and looked a little tight as Kingery continued to put up zeros on the mound.
The Falcons were able to scratch across two runs in the sixth to tie the game, then seized their opportunity in the bottom of the seventh.
“I think we needed that [test]. The coaches didn’t, but the players needed it,” said St. Albert head coach Duncan Patterson, noting that Matthai ran through a stop sign at third on the game’s final play.
“I was holding him up,” he said. “But then I noticed the pitcher was coming so it was just a race. It was a great play, bang-bang, either way... and I guess we get to play another game.”
Patterson had nothing but praise for the performance of Kingery and the Spartans.
“I told Coach (Petersen), ‘That guy has got some skills.’ He’s going to be good. I could see him pitching somewhere [in college],” said Patterson. “He had us baffled. We’ve seen a lot of different types of pitching and he just kind of owned us.
“They played awesome, and they’re young so they’re going to be good. I told their coach and a couple of their players, ‘Keep going with it, keep your head up. You guys will be back here.’”
Dueling it out
Although neither starter got the decision, Kingery (5-1) and Falcon senior Luke Hubbard (6-3) stole the show in a classic pitchers’ duel.
Kingery mixed his fastball and breaking ball well for six innings, allowing three soft singles (only one hit through five) and working around six walks while striking out five.
St. Albert had three steals but also lost four runners on the base paths. Catcher Trey Petersen gunned down two Falcons - one at second, one at third - and Kingery picked off two more, although one of those came on a game-tying steal of home.
Hubbard gave up five hits and two unearned runs in six-and-a-third, walking two and striking out five before Matthai (8-1) got the final two outs of the seventh.
Scoring recap
Deadlocked in a scoreless tie, St. Albert blinked first in the top of the fourth.
With Easton Nelson on first and two out, Dane Paulsen hit a routine ground ball to shortstop Cy Patterson, whose throw sailed way high and set up runners at first and third. After Paulsen stole second, Jameson Kilworth - who had singled in his first at-bat - crushed a two-run double over the head of the left fielder.
The Spartans led 2-0, but were unable to add any insurance runs going forward. They put runners in scoring position in the second, fifth and seventh innings only to come up empty each time.
“Against great teams like that we have to make sure that we make them pay on those,” Coach Petersen said.
After working around a leadoff infield single in the third and leadoff walks in the fourth and fifth, Kingery lost his shutout in the sixth.
Patterson got the Falcon rally going with a ground ball single up the middle and went to second on a balk. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Brendan Monahan’s sacrifice fly.
The bases were empty with two outs, but St. Albert wasn’t done yet as Brett Klusman coaxed a walk and got to third on Carter White’s hit-and-run single through the vacated 4-hole.
The Falcons then ran their version of a “force-balk” play as White broke off first and looked to get into a rundown. As Kingery stepped off the mound and ran toward White, Klusman got an excellent break off third and easily scored the tying run before Exira-EHK could tag out White in the pickle.
One inning later, another daring dash had St. Albert celebrating a narrow victory.
“We executed when they scored their second run. It’s what we’re supposed to do,” Petersen said. “Unfortunately we just didn’t get turned in time to try to make a play at home. I’m not going to complain. We (got) the out so you’re right where you want to be. We put ourselves in a position to win... but it’s just an unfortunate way to end.
“Bottom of the seventh - a bloop hit off a changeup. And then just something unfortunate there off an error. It’s one of those things.”
Kilworth went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI to lead Exira-EHK at the plate. Trey Petersen, Hunter Andersen and Kingery each added a single while Paulsen and Wyatt Fahn drew walks.
Saying goodbye
Coach Petersen shared emotional hugs with sons Tyler and Trey after the game as well as other players on the team as the season came to a jarring close.
The Spartans will lose three seniors off this year’s roster in Tyler Petersen, Hunter Andersen and Wyatt Fahn.
“I’ve actually been coaching them since coach-pitch (when) they were 5... so it is tough,” Tom Petersen said.
“It’s three guys that have been with me for a long time in everything. Saying goodbye to the son just blows - I’m not going to lie to you. Graduation, that’s easy for me. This is not, because this is a closure to everything. So it is hard, but I’m proud of them. I’m proud of all of them.”
Class 1A, Substate 7 Baseball Tournament
District 13 Quarterfinal Scores - Monday, July 12
CAM 15, Griswold 1 (5) Lenox 4, East Union 3
Bedford 7, Southwest Valley 6 Nodaway Valley 10, Orient-Macksburg 1
District 13 Semifinal Scores - Tuesday, July 13
CAM 10, Bedford 0 (6) Lenox 4, Nodaway Valley 3
District 13 Final - Saturday, July 17
CAM 7, Lenox 6
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District 14 Quarterfinal Scores - Monday, July 12
St. Albert 15, Essex 0 (4) Exira-EHK 5, East Mills 1
Riverside 8, Stanton 7 (9) Sidney 4, Fremont-Mills 1
District 14 Semifinal Scores - Tuesday, July 13
St. Albert 13, Riverside 2 (5) Exira-EHK 11, Sidney 1 (5)
District 14 Final - Saturday, July 17
St. Albert 3, Exira-EHK 2
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Substate 7 Final - Tuesday, July 20
#9-ranked CAM (25-6) vs. #4-ranked St. Albert (31-8) - at Glenwood, 7:00 p.m.