By Drake Skleba

 

SPRINGFIELD ? In the Class 2A Lincoln Land Community College Supersectional on Tuesday, No. 15 Pleasant Plains and No. 8 Teutopolis, met in a matchup of two of the most successful baseball programs in Illinois. On a beautiful Central Illinois evening, the defending Class 2A champs from Teutopolis (31-2) scored four times in the top of the seventh to rally past Pleasant Plains 4-1.

 

In the fateful seventh, Wooden Shoe?s No. 9 hitter senior LF Damon Hoene led off the inning with ringing double to left center. Hoene would go to third on a wild pitch and score when John A. Logan College-bound senior CF/LHP Derek Thompson ripped a shot to the left field wall, tying the game at 1-1, with a double.

 

That would end the night for Pleasant Plains ace junior RHP Kyle Weller (10-3). Pleasant Plains head coach Dave Greer gave the ball to Cardinal senior Danny Reiser. Teutopolis senior C Derek Repking greeted Reiser with a bloop single to right, Thompson moving to third.

 

Thompson scored the lead run when Wooden Shoes senior 1B Bo Blievernicht hit a roller to third. The throw to first was into the runner and a tremendous collision took place between Blievernicht and Cardinal junior first baseman Logan Gebhards. Blievernicht lodged the ball from the fallen Gebhards. Thompson danced home with the lead run.

 

Gebhards lay on the field for about five minutes before retiring from the game under his own power.

 

Wooden Shoe senior DH Brock Swingler, after striking out in two previous at-bats, ripped an RBI single to right to give the Shoes a 3-1 lead. The Shoes would add another run in the inning on a wild pitch.

 

?I had struck out twice and was lifted for a pinch hitter in my third at bat,? said Swingler. ?Coach Fleener gave me another chance in the seventh and I had to come through with a big hit.?

 

Thompson (10-0), who relieved Wooden Shoe staring junior RHP Mark Niebrugge in the sixth, struck out his fourth and fifth hitters he faced, before walking a man. Thompson retired the final Cardinal hitter on a ground out to Wooden Shoes power-hitting third baseman Garrett Overbeck to end the game. Overbeck, who was walked intentionally three times, came into the game hitting .451 with 11 bombs and 50 RBI.

 

?We battled inning by inning and finally pulled this one out,? said Thompson. ?I tried to keep the ball low and inside against the Plains hitters. I was very successful pitching that way. We will take it one game at time as we try to defend our Class 2A championship.?

 

Trailing 1-0 as the game went to the top of the seventh, it appeared that there would be a new Class 2A champ in Illinois this year. Weller was performing a masterful Houdini act against the Shoes.

 

In the fourth, Weller pitched out of a man on third with no-out situation and again in the sixth, the magician-like junior kept the Wooden Shoes off the board, pitching out of a first and second with one out, T-Town scoring opportunity.

 

Pleasant Plains (34-5) had scored the only run of the ball game to that point, picking up an unearned run against T-Town junior starting pitcher Niebrugge. Niebrugge threw a solid five-inning performance for the Shoes allowing only five hits.

 

?Coming back from my knee injury, I was a little concerned about it in the first inning,? said Niebrugge. ?I forgot about it and pitched a good game. It was awesome to win this game. Nothing like waiting until the seventh to score. We had never been shutout this year and to win the game the way we did was a gutsy effort on our part.?

 

With the win, the Wooden Shoes will move on to Peoria?s O?Brien Field where they will meet the Panthers from Prophetstown-Erie (25-5). The two schools will meet at approximately 5 p.m. on Friday night in the second Class 2A semifinal.

 

?It?s a great feeling,? said Teutopolis head coach Justin Fleener. ?To get to this point and the way we did it is amazing. To win two games yesterday and then come back in the seventh tonight, to defeat a great Plains team is amazing.

 

?Damon Hoene, my No. 9 hitter, has done it for us all year. Mark Niebrugge pitched outstanding for us coming back from a knee injury. Derek Thompson has been great for us all year. Derek was outstanding on the mound closing out the game in the last two innings.?