By Becky Walz,
The Decorah baseball team (16-12, 11-5 NEIC) stunned Class 2A No. 6 New Hampton on the road Monday in a 10-inning marathon game and ended the night with a split. Tuesday, the Vikes were back at home.
Big upset
Game one of Monday’s NEIC twinbill was another hard fought game against the conference-leading New Hampton Chickasaws (21-4, 14-2 NEIC). It took 10 innings to find a winner and the Vikings were able to do just enough to come out on top 4-2.
Brayden Hartl set the tone for game one with a single as Decorah’s leadoff batter and worked his way around the bases on a steal and scored on a Chickasaw error to put the Vikes up 1-0 early. In the second frame, New Hampton took advantage of a hit batter and a walk to take the 2-1 lead. Trevor Kuennen evened the score at 2-2 in the fourth as he doubled and scored as Hartl was issued a walk.
Then the pitching and defense for both NEIC teams dug in their heels, allowing few baserunners through the seventh to push the game into extra innings. It was three up, three down for both the Vikes and Chickasaws in the eighth and ninth before Decorah broke through in scoring again in the top of the 10th. Hartl led off the innings with a walk, with Kaden Alstad intentionally walked. An error on a play after Brady Bohner’s hit allowed Hartl to score the go ahead run. T. Kuennen came up with his second big hit of the game to drive Alstad home and a 4-2 Viking lead. Decorah then retired three Chickasaws in a row for the win.
Landon Kuennen had one of his best outings of the year going seven innings giving up just one earned run on two hits and five strikeouts. Cash Riehle once again came up big for the Vikes out of the bullpen throwing three innings giving up no runs on no hits with one K.
The Viking offense was led by Brayden Hartl and Trevor Kuennen. Hartl went 2-for-3 with one RBI and a stolen base. Trevor Kuennen went 2-for-5 with a double and the huge RBI single in the top of the 10th.
“Facing the best pitcher in the conference, Kael Meyers, we knew that we were going to need a strong performance from Landon game one. He was outstanding for us as he shut down a very solid New Hampton offense. He stayed around the zone all seven innings and really challenged their hitters to put the ball in play. When we play solid defense behind a pitcher that is consistently getting the ball over the plate, we can play with anybody,” said Coach Alec Zwanziger. “Cash Riehle is a guy every coach wants on their team. He’s a guy that will do whatever is asked of him and will give 110 percent effort in whatever role he is asked to fill. He has done exactly that for us on the mound this year.”
In the nightcap, the Vikings were able to jump out ahead early 2-1 after the first inning on a pair of singles by Mason Avila and T. Kuennen, along with a pair of walks and an error. Unfortunately the bats went cold the remainder of the game. The game remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth when New Hampton was able to execute a few key bunts to take the lead 3-2.
Bohner shouldered the loss with Alstad throwing the final inning in relief. The two combined for six Ks.
The Vikes tallied five hits in the game with T. Kuennen having two with an RBI.
“Of course it would have been big for this group to come away with two wins, we just couldn’t come up with a key hit when we had runners in scoring position in game two. But I’m proud of how these guys fought for all 17 innings against one of the best teams in Class 2A,” concluded Coach Zwanziger.
Decorah’s Brayden Hartl dives safely back to first as the Chickasaw players slaps on the tag in game one of Monday’s NEIC twinbill. (Driftless Multimeda photo by Becky Walz)
Game Stats
R H E
Dec 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 7 9
NH 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2
Cash Riehle (WP) – 3IP, 1K; Landon Kuennen (SP) – 7IP, 2R, 2H, 3BB, 5K
2B – Fisher Tweten 1; Trevor Kuennen 1; 1B – Brayden Hartl 2; Kaden Alstad 1; Brady Bohner 1; T. Kuennen 1; RBI – Hartl 1; Caleb Meyer 1; Bohner 1; T. Kuennen 1; SB – Hartl 1
R H E
Dec 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 0
NH 1 0 0 0 2 0 x 3 4 2
Bohrner (LP) – 5IP, 3R, 4H, 1BB, 3K; Alstad (RP) – 1IP, 3K
1B – T. Kuennen 2; Hartl 1; Mason Avila 1; Garrett Waskow 1; RBI – Kelley Gates 1; T. Kuennen 1; SB – Gates 1
Rescheduled contest
Following the big NEIC battle Monday, the Vikes hosted Independence (8-17) Tuesday to make up a game that had been rained out Friday. Decorah struggled offensively and dropped the non-conference match-up, 12-0. No other game stats or information was available at press time.
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