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 12^th 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).

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For the St. Joseph Panthers junior high baseball team, the IESA Class 2A regional semifinal game looked a lot like the regional championship contest.

Both were wins for the Panthers.

Both were by 12-0 shutouts.

Both were games where the St. Joseph pitchers didn’t issue a walk.

On Saturday (Sept. 18) St. Joseph blanked Holy Cross at home, 12-0. Logan Rosenthal pitched three innings, allowing one hit and fanning two. Trevor Ames worked one inning, yielding one hit and striking out one batter.

On Monday (Sept. 20), Bryson Houchens scattered two hits over four innings, picking up his fourth win in a seven-strikeout performance against Westville.

Leading the offense against Holy Cross was Cam Schluter with three hits.

Schluter drove in three runs. Tim Blackburn-Kelley had two RBI. Luke Smith, Asher Pruemer and Houchens all scored two runs.

The Panthers put the game away with a nine-run second inning.

Against Westville, Schluter, Rosenthal, Ames, Will Haley and Jake Carlson struck two hits each.

Rosenthal, Haley and Carlson knocked in two runs. Rosenthal and Haley scored twice. Ames stole three bases.

In his first two postseason games, Schluter is 5-for-5.

A four-run first inning put St. Joseph in command early.

St. Joseph (17-3) has won nine consecutive games. The last six wins have all been by at least 10-run margins.

The Panthers return to action in the IESA Class 2A sectional on Saturday (Sept. 25) at home against Hoopeston Area (18-2), which scored a 1-0 regional title-game win over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.

The winner secures a berth in the state tournament, which starts on Oct. 1 in Peoria.

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The St. Joseph Panthers collected a 9-1 baseball win on Monday (Aug. 23) over Champaign Edison, the team’s third straight win.

Bryson Houchens picked up the win. In six innings, he allowed five hits, no walks and struck out seven.

Gary Page pitched the final inning to close out the win.

Houchens also delivered a two-run single in the first inning to get the Panthers on the board.

Houchens and Logan Rosenthal each had three hits. Cam Schluter and Luke Smith contributed two hits apiece. St. Joseph pounded 13 hits in all.

Smith and Trevor Ames drove in two runs apiece.

On Friday (Aug. 20), St. Joseph blanked Jefferson 20-0 in Champaign.

Schluter pitched four innings of two-hit ball, walking no one and striking out five. Finn Miller pitched the fifth inning and retired all three batters he faced.

Houchens knocked three hits. Ames had two hits as did teammates Tim Blackburn-Kelley and Hunter Van Meenan.

Will Haley had three RBI. Ames and Rosenthal also drove in three runs. Van Meenan and Nolan Franzen both knocked in two runs.

On Thursday (Aug. 19), Asher Pruemer pitched a three-inning no-hitter in a 15-0 win at home over Villa Grove. He struck out eight batters.

Finishing with two hits apiece were Jake Carlson, Rosenthal, Houchens, Ames, Smith and Cameron Buskirk. Smith had three RBI.

The Panthers (7-2) return to action on Wednesday (Aug. 25) at Mahomet.

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