The Buckman Billygoats became the first of 5 teams in District 4B to earn their way to the State Tournament in 2 weeks when they pulled away from the Pierz Lakers to win 11-3 on Saturday in Opole.
Things got off to a great start in the top of the 1st for the Lakers against Buckman starter Matt Tautges when Pierz strung together 4 straight singles on just 6 pitches as Preston Rocheleau, Kamden Happke and Noah Cekalla singled to load the bases with 1 out. Kolten Happke then drilled an rbi single to drive in Rocheleau to make it 1-0. Ryan Chmielewski then grounded out to shortstop Lane Girtz, as Kamden Happke came in to score to make it 2-0 before Tautges got a strikeout of David Kroger to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd, the Billygoats rallied to tie the score when Ben Thoma led off by getting hit with a Carter Petron pitch, then Matt Kummet walked. Andrew Rueckert’s rbi single brought in Thoma to make it 2-1. After a strikeout and another hit-by-pitch (Peter Herman), Travis Kahl laced a game-tying rbi single to plate Matt Kummet and make it a 2-2 game. Buckman now had the bases loaded with 1 out when Carter Petron got Matt Tautges to bounce back to the mound, which resulted in a home-to-first inning-ending double play.
The Goats grabbed the lead for good an inning later when Lane Girtz led off with a single, then Noah Cekalla made a great diving catch of a line drive off the bat of Noah Boser. Ben Thoma then singled and with 2 outs, a ground ball by Andrew Rueckert was misplayed for an error, allowing Lane Girtz to score and put Buckman ahead 3-2 after 3 innings.
In the bottom of the 5th, Buckman added to their lead when Ben Thoma was hit by a pitch with 2 outs, and on the next pitch from Carter Petron, Matt Kummet lined an rbi double to right-center as Thoma scored from 1st to make it 3-0. Andrew Rueckert then beat out an infield single and Jack Suska dropped an rbi single into right field to score Kummet and make it 5-2 after 5 innings.
In the top of the 6th, the Lakers Kamden Happke led off with a walk against Matt Tautges, followed by a Noah Cekalla single. Ryan Chmielewski then drove in Happke with a ground out to make it 5-3.
The bottom of the 6th is the inning that broke this game open for Buckman. Travis Kahl led off with a single of fnew pitcher Preston Rocheleau. After Matt Tautges lined out to left fielder David Kroger, Lane Girtz singled and Noah Boser reached on a fielders choice where the lakers tried to get a force out of Girtz at 2nd but Lane beat the throw to the bag and Buckman had the bases loaded with 1 out. Ben Thoma then came up and walked, forcing in Travis Kahl to make it 6-3. After Rocheleau got Matt Kummet to pop up to right fielder Ryan Chmielewski, Andrew Ruckert delivered the biggest hit of the game, a line drive, bases-clearing double to center to put Buckman in front 9-3.
Buckman added the final 2 runs of the game in the bottom of the 7th when Travis Kahl walked with 1 out and then Matt Tautges smashed a 2-run Homer to right to give Buckman an 11-3 lead after 7 innings.
In the top of the 8th, Matt Tautges came out and hit Preston Rocheleau with a pitch and then walked Kamden Happke and was then relieved by Ben Thoma on the mound. Thoma struck out Noah Cekalla for the 1st out, then got a brilliant defensive play from 3rd baseman Peter Herman, who made a leaping catch on a line drive from Kolten Happke. Herman then first to 1st to double off Kamden Happke and end the inning.
In the top of the 9th, pinch-hitter Ryan Diers opened with a walk, but then Thoma fanned pinch-hitters Mason Athman and Danny Litke before getting Chase Becker to fly out to Noah Noser in left to end the game and send the Billygoats to the District 4b Championship game next Saturday at 10:30 am in Pierz against the Nisswa/Sobieski winner.
The Pierz Lakers will now take on the Foley Lumberjacks in Avon next Friday night at 8:30 pm. That won’t be an elimination game but the winner of that game will clinch a spot in the State Tournament and play in the 3rd place game in Pierz on Saturday at 1:00 pm. The loser of the Foley/Pierz Lakers game will have one more chance at a State Tournament spot when they will play in the 5th place game on Saturday in Pierz at 3:30 pm.
Time of the game was 2:32.
Pierz Lakers 3 7 1 – 3
Buckman 11 13 0 – 11
WP: Matt Tautge 7.0+ IP 3 runs 7 hits 5k 2bb 1hp
Ben Thoma 2.0 IP 0 runs 0 hits 3k 1bb
LP: Carter Petron 5.0 IP 5 runs 7 hits 1k 1bb 3hp
Preston Rocheleau 1.1 IP 6 runs 4 hits 0k 2bb
Noah Cekalla 1.2 IP 0 runs 1 hit 2k 0bb
Billygoats:
Matt Tautges 2-5 Hr, 2 rbi, run
Lane Girtz 2-5 2 runs
Noah Boser 0-5 run
Ben Thoma 2-2 bb, 2hp, rbi, 3 runs
Matt Kummet 1-4 2B, bb, rbi, 2 runs
Andrew Rueckert 3-5 2B, 4 rbi
Jack Suska 1-5 rbi
Peter Herman 0-3 hp
Travis Kahl 2-3 bb, rbi, 2 runs
Lakers:
Carter Petron 0-4
Preston Rocheleau 1-3 hp, run
Kamden Happke 2-2 2bb, 2 runs
Noah Cekalla 2-4
Kolten Happke 1-4 rbi
Ryan Chmielewski 0-3 2 rbi
– Ryan Diers 0-0 bb
David Kroger 0-3
– Mason Athman 0-1
Brady Petron 0-3
– Danny Litke 0-1
Chase Becker 1-4 sb
