Festus edges No. 11 Crystal City behind Wilkerson's complete game

May 12, 2011

By Mike Rosenbaum

Two of Missouri?s promising 2012 arms dueled on Wednesday, as No. 11 Crystal City (16-5) visited Festus (12-9) in a non-conference game at West City Park. On the mound for Crystal City was LHP Alex Winkelman, whose gaudy strikeout total and miniscule ERA have turned heads state-wide. Opposing him for Festus was hard-throwing RHP Caleb Wilkerson (right), who looked to bounce back after a loss to Troy in his previous start.

Although Winkelman pitched well on a humid afternoon, the Tigers ultimately handed him his first loss of the season, beating the solid Crystal City squad, 3-1. Festus did everything right on Wednesday: they worked counts, picked up timely hits and played flawless defense. But it in the end it was Wilkerson who paced his team in the victory, as the junior carried a no-hit bid into the fifth and fired his second complete game of the season.

After struggling to make hard contact off of Winkelman in the first and second innings, the Tigers scored the game?s first run in the bottom of the third. SS Jeremy Brown drew a one-out walk and promptly stole second base ahead of 2B Tim Gurnow, who delivered a two-out, RBI single.

Festus extended their lead to 2-0 in the following inning thanks to another clutch two-out knock. 1B Connor Eisenbeis led off the frame with a single and advanced to second on a two-out, Crystal City infield error. The next batter, Wilkerson, helped his own cause by delivering an RBI single to left field.

Headed into the top of the fifth, the Hornets offense had not been able to muster a hit off of the Wilkerson. The right-hander?s no-hit bid would end there, though, as 3B Logan Jett singled to lead off the inning. But the knock was quickly was erased when Wilkerson induced a 6-4-3 double play.

Even though he faced the minimum 15 hitters through five innings, Wilkerson showed signs of fatigue in the sixth. After a leadoff walk to OF Tyler McLanahan and a one-out walk to OF Anthony Klos, Winkelman laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases for Crystal City. OF Nick Pruneau followed with a sacrifice fly to left field that drove in the Hornets? first run and made it a 2-1 game.

One run was all that they would get in the inning, though, as Wilkerson bared down and got 2B Nick Portell to ground out to short to end the threat.

The Tigers added an insurance run in the top of the sixth, when sophomore CF Mitch Neel turned on fastball, belting it well over the left field fence.

Despite laboring in the sixth, Wilkerson returned to the hill to finish what he started. After getting ahead on Jett, 0-2, the junior hit the Crystal City third baseman with the very next pitch. But just as he did in the fifth inning, the right-hander utilized his defense and generated another 6-4-3 double play. He would ultimately walk the next two hitters before retiring Cherry on a ground out to short to end the game.

We?ve had a tough week,? said Festus head coach Jeff Montgomery. ?We didn?t play very well yesterday, but we put that behind us and played at a high-level today and beat a pretty good team.?

Wilkerson allowed one run on two hits in the complete game effort, walking four and fanning three along the way. The junior neutralized the hot-hitting Hornets? offense with his well-located fastball, which sat at 85-86 mph and touched 87 mph. He also mixed in a tight 77-79 mph slider, as well as a 74-76 mph change up, both complimenting his crisp fastball. Nathan Lambert received the start behind the plate for the Tigers and did a nice job handling Wilkerson and controlling the running game.

?Caleb was very good today,? Montgomery said of his starter. ?His fastball had good velocity with movement and he worked ahead of guys. We made the plays defensively today behind him and that was key.?

Gurnow finished the game 2-for-2 with an RBI for the Tigers, and Neel was 1-for-3 with a home run. In addition to his strong outing, Wilkerson was also 1-for-3 with an RBI at the plate, while the freshman Brown finished 1-for-1 with a run scored, walk and stolen base. Eisenbeis and LF Tyler Almany each had a hit, as well.

?We got a clutch hit from Tim Gurnow and Jeremy Brown was crucial getting on base a couple times,? noted Montgomery. ?This game meant a lot to them because there?s apparently some bragging rights involved, and they came out ready to play.?

Despite another strong outing, Winkelman (6-1) lost for the first time this season on Wednesday. The lanky southpaw allowed two earned runs on seven hits over six innings. The state?s strikeout leader added seven more to his total against Festus and walked only two batters. The junior?s fastball sat between 83-85 mph, hitting 86 mph a few times, and he showed confidence throwing it inside to right-handers. He also showcased a big curve at 69-70 mph and a change up at 71-73 that kept many of Festus? hitters off-balance.

He also picked up one of his team?s two hits, with Jett collecting the other. Pruneau drove in Crystal City?s only run of the game and McLanahan drew a pair of walks.

Notes:

After losing home games against No. 13 Cape Notre Dame on Monday and Cape Central on Tuesday, Festus rebounded with the big win over Crystal City.

Headed into contest, Crystal City had nine players with at least 20 at-bats hitting over .300 and five over .400.

With his seven strikeouts on Wednesday, Alex Winkelman has now fanned 97 hitters in 48 2/3 innings and is averaging 14.1 strikeouts per seven innings. The junior also sports an impressive K/BB ratio of 8.1.

The RBI from Nick Pruneau gives him a team-best 29 this season.

After a 2-for-2 game, sophomore Tim Gurnow raised his batting average to .414.

The home run by Mitch Neel in the sixth inning was his third of the year.

Freshman Jeremy Brown, who was recently promoted from JV to Varsity, started two, clutch double plays at shortstop for Festus.