The Pierz Lakers avenged 2 regular season losses to the Avon Lakers with a 5-4 win in the first game of the District 4B Tournament on Friday night in Avon .
Starting pitchers Carter Petron for Pierz and Drew Lieser for Avon were battling to a scoreless tie through 3 innings before Pierz got the games first run in the top of the 4th. Ryan Chmielewski walked with 1 out, then went to 2nd on a single from David Kroger. After Chmielewski stole 3rd, Pierz executed a delayed steal with Kroger staying in a rundown long enough between 1st and 2nd to allow Chmielewski to dash home to make it 1-0.
In the top of the 5th, Chase Becker led off with a bunt single for Pierz, then went to 2nd on a passed ball. After a sacrifice bunt from Carter Petron, Preston Rocheleau lined out to 2nd. Drew Lieser then hit Kamden HYappke with a pitch and walked Noah Cekalla to load the bases. Kolten Happke then came through with a 2-run single to score both Becker and Kamden Happke to make it 3-0 in favor of Pierz.
Meanwhile, Carter Petron was dealing on the mound for Pierz, allowing just 3 hits through the first 5 innings. In the bottom of the 6th, Petron hit Caleb Curry with a pitch to lead off the inning, but then got Nolan Dumonceaux to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play , then Elian Mezquita grounded out to 3rd baseman Kolten Happke to end the 6th inning with Pierz leading 3-0.
In the top of the 7th, Preston Rocheleau led off by reaching on an error. Matt Pichelmann, who had relieved Drew Lieser after the 2-run single from Kolten Happke in the 5th, then struck out Kamden Happke. Noah Cekalla then singled to move Rocheleau to 2nd with 1 out. Kolten Happke then pulled an rbi double into the left field corner to score Rocheleau and make it 4-0, and sending Cekalla to 3rd. Ryan Chmielewski then laid down a squeeze bunt, scoring Cekalla to give Pierz a 5-0 lead at the 7th inning stretch.
In the bottom of the 8th, Avon got a lead-off walk from Carter Holthaus, then Ryan Janzen was hit by a pitch from Carter Petron. Pierz then opted to bring in Noah Cekalla to relieve Petron with 2 men on an no outs. Cekalla got Elliott Burnett on strikes for the 1st out but then a wild pitch moved both runners up a base. Another low pitch from Cekalla eluded catcher Brady Petron, but he was able to hustle back and retrieve the ball and as Carter Holthaus went headfirst into home plate, Petron flipped the ball to Cekalla at the plate and he was able to apply the game just before Holthaus scored for the 2nd out. After a walk to Caleb Curry, a Nolan Dumonceaux line drive single to center brought in Janzen to make it 5-1 before Cekalla got Elian Mezquita to popup to 2nd baseman Preston Rocheleau to end the 8th with Pierz leading 5-1.
Pierz threatened in the top of the 9th against Matt Pichelmann, loading the bases on a Noah Cekalla single, a fielders choice from Kolten Happke and Ryan Chmielewski getting hit by a pitch with 2 outs, but Pichelmann got David Kroger to ground out to shortstop Caleb Curry to end the inning and move to the bottom of the 9th with Avon trailing 5-1.
Kadyn Mork led off the bottom of the 9th with a single for Avon, followed by a double from Travis Cariveau. Jack Theisen drove in Mork with a ground out to 1st to make it 5-2. After Noah Cekalla fanned Carter Holthaus for the 2nd out, Ryan Janzen ripped an rbi double to right to bring home Cariveau and make it 5-3. Elliott Burnett added his team-leading 18th rbi of the year with a sharp single to score Janzen and it was now a 1-run game at 5-4, and Avon had the tying run at 1st and the potential winning run at the plate in the form of Caleb Curry. On a 1-0 pitch, Curry sent a hard line drive right at Pierz left fielder David Kroger to end the game with Pierz holding on for the 5-4 win. Avon had beaten Pierz 8-4 and 4-0 during the regular season.
Avon will next play the loser of the Buckman vs St. Stephen game in Round 2, an elimination game. That will be next Friday at 6:00 pm in Avon. The Pierz Lakers will next face the winner of that Buckman vs St. Stephen game next Saturday at 1:00 pm in Opole.
Pierz Lakers 5 9 0 – 5
Avon 4 8 1 – 4
WP: Carter Petron 7.0+ IP 1 run 3 hits 6k 2bb 4hp
Noah Cekalla 2.0 IP 3 runs 5 hits 2k 1bb
LP: Drew Lieser 4.2 IP 3 runs 5 hits 1k 5bb 1hp
Matt Pichelmann 4.1 IP 2 runs 4 hits 2k 2bb 1hp
Pierz Lakers:
Carter Petron 0-2 2bb, sac
Preston Rocheleau 0-4 bb, run
Kamden Happke 2-3 2B, bb, hp, sb, run
Noah Cekalla 2-3 2bb, run
– Preston Saehr 0-0
Kolten Happke 2-5 2B, 3 rbi
Ryan Chmielewski 0-2 sac, bb, hp, 2 sb, rbi, run
David Kroger 2-5
Brady Petron 0-3 sac
Chase Becker 1-4 run
Avon Lakers:
Ryan Janzen 2-3 2B, 2hp, rbi, 2 runs
Elliott Burnett 1-5 rbi
Caleb Curry 1-2 bb, 2 hp
Nolan Dumonceaux 1-3 bb, rbi
Elian Mezquita 0-4
– Drew Lieser
– Matt Pichelmann
Kadyn Mork 2-4 run
Travis Cariveau 1-3 2B, sac, run
Jack Theisen 0-4 rbi
Carter Holthaus 0-3 bb