Tigers beat Elkhart to pad CLC lead
ELKHART LAKE – Howards Grove grabbed an early 4-0 lead and then rode the strong pitching of senior Eric Dickmyer to a key 7-3 win over Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah here Wednesday night.
The Tigers, who have won five straight, increased their lead in the Central Lakeshore Conference baseball race to two games over Elkhart. Howards improved to 7-1 in the CLC (7-5 overall). The Resorters, who handed the Tigers their lone conference loss, slipped to 5-3 in the league (5-8 overall).
“This is a big win for us. I’m very proud of the kids,” said Tiger head coach Mark Weber.
“Eric threw very well. He changed speeds well and had good command of the zone. We got off to a good lead which meant a lot.”
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on RBI singles by Camryn Hurtienne and Cole Reinemann.
Howards added two runs in the second on Dickmyer’s single for a 4-0 advantage.
The Tigers upped their lead to 5-0 in the fourth. Mike Verfuerth singled, stole second and third bases, and scored on the catcher’s throwing error at third.
A two-run fifth raised the Tigers’ lead to 7-0. Courtesy runner Christian Meiselwitz scored on a wild pitch and Verfuerth contributed an RBI single.
Elkhart tallied two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. In the fifth, Nic Pritzl knocked in a run with a groundout and Zach Schoenborn hit a run-scoring single. Taylor Kaboord’s base hit drove in the sixthinning run.
Dickmyer allowed three earned runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts in going the route.
Dane Blake was the starting and losing hurler. Blake threw four innings and gave up five runs (three earned) on seven hits with three walks and strikeouts each, and one hit batter.
Kyle Rentmeester pitched the final three frames – allowing two earned runs on three hits with three walks and strikeouts apiece.
Verfuerth, Dickmyer and Reinemann paced the Tigers in hits with two each. Dickmyer had a team-best two RBIs. Verfuerth scored twice and stole a team-high three bases.
Kaboord, a freshman second baseman, led Elkhart in hits with two.
“We really didn’t come ready to play which was very disappointing,” said Resorter head coach Davin Hill.
“After the first two innings, we put ourselves in too big of a hole. Dickmyer threw hard. His fastball and breaking ball worked well.
“They played better than us,” Hill added. “We were aggressive on the bases and at the plate. Verfuerth really ignites our offense,” Weber said. Verfuerth, a fleet-footed center fielder, is the Tigers’ leadoff batter.
| BASEBALL
| | |
| HOWARDS 7 | |
| GROVE | | |
| ELKHART | 3 | |
| LAKE | | |
Score by Innings
Howards Grove….....220 120 0 – 7 10 0
Elkhart Lake…………000 021 0 – 3 6 2
Eric Dickmyer and Zach Stueven; Dane Blake, Kyle Rentmeester (5) and Deric Lightle. W – ___________________________ Dickmyer. L – Blake.
