By Sean Duncan

PEORIA ? The simple reason why No. 8 Teutopolis has advanced to play for its second straight Class 2A championship: pitching. To be more specific, a lot of pitching.

On Friday against a scrappy Prophetstown club, Teutopolis showed off its impressive pitching depth during a 6-4 Class 2A state semifinal game at O?Brien Field.

After playing three playoff games on Monday and Tuesday because of rain, Teutopolis (32-2) coach Justin Fleener started 6-foot-7, 230-pound junior left-hander Eric Oseland, who showed an 80-83 mph fastball but lasted only an inning. And by that time, Prophetstown (25-6) held a 2-0 lead.

Fleener wasted no time going to the pen, bringing in 6-foot-4, 200-pound sophomore Kyle Pruemer (4-0). The wide-shouldered right-hander was stellar in 4.2 innings, allowing three hits and striking out six behind a fastball that was in the 83-85 range, but climbed as high as 88 on one occasion. Pruemer held down the Panthers long enough for the Teutopolis offense to come alive, as the Wooden Shoes tied the game in the fourth, took a 3-2 lead in the fifth and extended the advantage to 6-2 in the top of the sixth.

By that time Pruemer had tired, so Fleener went to the pen again, opting to bring in 6-foot-2 junior right-hander Mark Niebrugge. Niebrugge, who is just coming off a knee injury, wasn?t his normal self, but still showed an 85-87 mph fastball. However, one of those 87-mph fastballs hit a kid in the face, which rightfully rattled him.

By that time, Prophetstown had pushed two runs across, making it 6-4. So Fleener decided enough of this, and summoned in his ace left-hander Derek Thompson from centerfield. Thompson, a 6-foot-3, 175-pounder who is, in my opinion, the best pitching prospect, and quite possibly the best overall prospect in the Class of 2011, proceeded to pitch the final 1.1 innings, mowing down Prophetstown with an 88-91 mph fastball. The John A. Logan JC recruit struck out the final batter of the game with an effortless 91-mph heater.

Game over.

Thompson (9-0, 95 Ks, 52 IP, 0.13 ERA) will likely pitch the championship game on Saturday against Walther Lutheran, which hammered DuQuoin 15-2 in the other state semifinal game.

?Ideally, I would?ve liked to have kept him in centerfield, but this is the time of the year when you can?t take any chances,? said Fleener about going to Thompson. ?I realize how fortunate I am to have this pitching.?

The Wooden Shoes? offense did their part as well. They pounded out 13 hits, led by senior first baseman Bo Blievernicht, who went 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run. John A. Logan JC-bound catcher Derek Repking went 2-for-4, which included a two-run triple in the sixth inning, and Niebrugge had two hits and two RBI. Third baseman Garrett Overbeck delivered a run-scoring triple in the fourth.

?We?re a good team and we never give up,? said Repking. ?We always know we have a chance to win until the final out.?