Tigers win in nine to share CLC lead

OOSTBURG – Howards Grove pitcher Eric Dickmeyer struck out a career-high 16 to lead the Tigers to a key Central Lakeshore Conference victory, 3-1, in nine innings over Oostburg here Monday evening in a true pitchers’ battle.

Howards Grove improved to 8- 4 in CLC baseball play (10-7 overall). The win puts the Tigers in a tie for first place with Sheboygan Lutheran/Kohler. Oostburg, which came into the game leading the league, dropped to second at 7-4.

The Tigers scored two runs in the top of the ninth to earn the victory. Cole Reinemann led off with a single. Reinemann then reached second after a sacrifice bunt by Mitch Lindstrom.

With one away, Reinemann then scored after an error by the first baseman which allowed Mike Verfuerth to reach first. After Verfuerth stole second, he scored on a double by Elliot Thieleke, which made the score 3-1.

The Tigers tied the game, 1-1, in the top of the seventh. Ashton Holzman started the seventh with a single up the middle for the Tigers. Noah Steines, who was pinch running for Holzman, scored on a throwing error to tie the game.

The Tigers almost pulled out the win in the seventh but Reineman was called out at the plate after a great play by pitcher David Stecker. Stecker fielded a suicidesqueeze bunt by Alex Milbrath and flipped the ball to catcher Luke Menzel who tagged Reinemann.

The Flying Dutchmen scored first when Matt Launer singled in Luke Menzel in the bottom of the second inning. It was a game dominated by both pitchers for most of the rest of the game.

Stecker was more then up to the challenge – throwing a no hitter going into the seventh inning. Stecker, who took the loss, threw a complete game with five strikeouts, two walks, a hit batter and five hits allowed with one earned run.T

he win was much deserved for Dickmeyer who had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. He threw a complete game with four walks, five hits and one earned run allowed.

“My stuff was working tonight, we believed and we got it done when it mattered,” said Dickmeyer.

“Dickmeyer was simply amazing,” said Tiger head coach Mark Weber. “He just dominated when he needed to.

“They keys for him were location, focus and hard work. He was overpowering with his fastball. He had all of his pitches working [fastball, changeup and breaking ball].

“It’s a huge win. It was a wellplayed defensive game for us. Our aggressive baserunning also helped to put the pressure on the other team,” Weber said.

“We put the ball in play a few more times than them and that was the key,” said Howards Grove coach Mark Weber.

Weber was pleased with how his team bounced back after not being able to score the go-ahead run in the seventh on the squeeze bunt.

Oostburg had four errors in the game that all had an impact on the outcome.

“Errors were the difference in the game and they caught up to us in the ninth,” said Oostburg head coach Dan Stephany.

Neither team had a batter with more than one hit.

Eric Dickmeyer and Elliot Thieleke; David Stecker and Luke Menzel. W – Dickmeyer L – David Stecker. 2Bs – Howards Grove, Thieleke; Oostburg, Michael Woltring.