Panthers bounce back to place third in IESA Class 2A State tournament
By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph bounced back from a semifinal loss on Monday (Oct. 4) in the IESA Class 2A state baseball tournament to salvage third place at the East Side Centre, in East Peoria.
Unbeaten Kankakee Bishop McNamara – which went on to win the 2A state crown – edged St. Joseph in the semifinals, 4-2, before the Panthers rebounded to win their final game in walk-off fashion in their final at-bat, 6-5 over Tremont.
St. Joseph ended the season with a 20-4 record, tying the school mark for single-season wins with the school’s 2018 state championship team.
Asher Pruemer pitched the first two innings of the third-place game, allowing two hits and two unearned runs. He struck out two batters.
Trevor Ames worked the last three innings to earn the victory. He yielded three hits and registered two strikeouts.
The Panthers were held to four hits by Tremont, singles by Luke Smith, Logan Rosenthal, Will Haley and Cam Schluter. Haley scored two runs.
The team’s runs were driven in by six different players: Ames, Jake Carlson, Bryson Houchens, Rosenthal, Schluter and Smith.
In the semifinals of the rain-delayed tournament (from Saturday), St. Joseph took a 1-0 lead into the third inning against McNamara (18-0), before allowing four runs.
Haley had two hits – including a double – and stole four bases. He scored both of the Panthers’ runs. Houchens had one RBI.
In the quarterfinals on Friday (Oct 1), Houchens and Rosenthal teamed up to throw a two-hitter for St. Joseph against the winningest school among the eight Class 2A qualifiers.
In a game played at the Eastside Centre, in East Peoria, St. Joseph blanked Pleasant Plains, 4-0, for its 12th consecutive win and fourth straight shutout.
Houchens pitched 6 1/3 innings. He walked three, struck out 10 and gave up one hit. Rosenthal closed out the win, issuing two walks and one hit to go with one strikeout.
The pitchers were backed by an errorless defense.
Ames socked St. Joseph’s only extra-base hit, a double. Smith each knocked in two runs. Ames delivered one RBI.
St. Joseph was limited to four hits. Schluter and Tim Blackburn-Kelley each delivered one hit.
Scoring two runs was Zach Harper. Schluter and Finn Miller crossed home plate once each.
St. Joseph scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and added its other two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pleasant Plains ended the season with a 22-5 record.
For the year, St. Joseph had 23 athletes playing baseball. Fourteen were eighth-graders.
They were: Trevor Ames, Tim Blackburn-Kelley, Jake Carlson, Will Haley, Zach Harper, Bryson Houchens, Brennan Oleynichak, Gary Page, Branson Pearman, Asher Pruemer, Logan Rosenthal, Cam Schluter, Luke Smith and Hunter Van Meenan.
Seven players earned pitching wins this fall. Houchens was 5-2. Ames was 4-0. Rosenthal was 4-1. Pruemer was 3-1. Page was 2-0. Miller and Schluter were each 1-0.
St. Joseph’s composite team earned run average for 24 games was 2.01. Among those with the most innings pitched, Houchens had a 1.63 ERA with 63 strikeouts in 43 innings.
Offensively, the Panthers had a cumulative batting average of .398.
Among players with at least 20 at-bats, the top batsmen were Houchens (.548), Ames (529), Haley (.471) and Smith (.328).
Haley had the most stolen bases (35), Houchens had the most home runs (four) and Rosenthal ended with the most extra-base hits (15).
