Sergeant-Bluff Luton faces Heelan tonight
By Steven Allspach, Journal sports writer | Posted: Monday, July 14, 2008
Sergeant Bluff-Luton opened the baseball season with a 5-4 loss to Bishop Heelan, squandering a 4-0 lead.
Coach Rick Admire's Warriors then lost their next three games, too, one of them to Class 4A Sioux City East and another to 1A Le Mars Gehlen Catholic in a War Eagle Conference opener.
East is two wins away from a state tourney berth and Gehlen meets Ar-We-Va Tuesday in a substate final to determine a spot in the four-class state tournament that begins next week in Des Moines.
Since the less-than-imposing start, SB-L has won 20 of 25 games, stringing together 16 straight victories during the turnaround and after losing to Gehlen, also won the War Eagle crown with 17 consecutive loop victories.
Heelan (23-13), knocked off Le Mars, 7-2, in its district opener Friday and SB-L squashed MOC-Floyd Valley 20-4 in four innings. The Warriors of Coach Rick Admire scored a whopping 16 runs in the first inning of the frolic, collecting 12 hits in the process.
The rematch in a district final is tonight in Le Mars (7 o'clock).
Admire hasn't decided on a starting pitcher and will choose from either junior Levi Maxfield (9-2) or John Mascarello (6-3), but Dylan Shoemaker, who sports a 4-3 record, will get the pitching start for Heelan.
Earlier in the season, Maxfield pitched no-hitters in three consecutive starts.
The first five batters in the SB-L lineup -- Mascarello (.447), Micah Stulich (.420), Jordan Huffman (.538), Jake Wimmer (.419) and Ross Chettinger (.302) -- give the Warriors a power-packed offense.
Wimmer, a freshman, has 18 doubles and 49 RBIs, Huffman 17 doubles and 43 RBIs and Chettinger leads the team with eight home runs.
Shoemaker, who pitched in the state tournament last year, was also the starter when the two teams met in the season opener, but didn't get a decision.
"You can't really get a lot from that first game for both teams,'' said Heelan Coach Andy Osborne. "Both teams are completely different and they had their pitchers each go just two innings.
"We've got to find a way to slow down their bats and we've got to play solid defense.''
In the opening game, SB-L's Maxfield actually absorbed the loss when Heelan rallied during his two-inning stint.
Osborne may have to tweak his lineup just a bit because freshman second baseman David Kerian and third baseman A.J. Staiert are ailing slightly with back injuries. Kerian has started every game at second for the Crusaders.
Tonight's winner will face the Storm Lake-Estherville/Lincoln Central winner in the substate final Wednesday in Storm Lake. Storm Lake (21-9) and Estherville-Lincoln Central (21-11) collide tonight in another district final in Spirit Lake.
Coach Rick Admire's Warriors then lost their next three games, too, one of them to Class 4A Sioux City East and another to 1A Le Mars Gehlen Catholic in a War Eagle Conference opener.
East is two wins away from a state tourney berth and Gehlen meets Ar-We-Va Tuesday in a substate final to determine a spot in the four-class state tournament that begins next week in Des Moines.
Since the less-than-imposing start, SB-L has won 20 of 25 games, stringing together 16 straight victories during the turnaround and after losing to Gehlen, also won the War Eagle crown with 17 consecutive loop victories.
Heelan (23-13), knocked off Le Mars, 7-2, in its district opener Friday and SB-L squashed MOC-Floyd Valley 20-4 in four innings. The Warriors of Coach Rick Admire scored a whopping 16 runs in the first inning of the frolic, collecting 12 hits in the process.
The rematch in a district final is tonight in Le Mars (7 o'clock).
Admire hasn't decided on a starting pitcher and will choose from either junior Levi Maxfield (9-2) or John Mascarello (6-3), but Dylan Shoemaker, who sports a 4-3 record, will get the pitching start for Heelan.
Earlier in the season, Maxfield pitched no-hitters in three consecutive starts.
The first five batters in the SB-L lineup -- Mascarello (.447), Micah Stulich (.420), Jordan Huffman (.538), Jake Wimmer (.419) and Ross Chettinger (.302) -- give the Warriors a power-packed offense.
Wimmer, a freshman, has 18 doubles and 49 RBIs, Huffman 17 doubles and 43 RBIs and Chettinger leads the team with eight home runs.
Shoemaker, who pitched in the state tournament last year, was also the starter when the two teams met in the season opener, but didn't get a decision.
"You can't really get a lot from that first game for both teams,'' said Heelan Coach Andy Osborne. "Both teams are completely different and they had their pitchers each go just two innings.
"We've got to find a way to slow down their bats and we've got to play solid defense.''
In the opening game, SB-L's Maxfield actually absorbed the loss when Heelan rallied during his two-inning stint.
Osborne may have to tweak his lineup just a bit because freshman second baseman David Kerian and third baseman A.J. Staiert are ailing slightly with back injuries. Kerian has started every game at second for the Crusaders.
Tonight's winner will face the Storm Lake-Estherville/Lincoln Central winner in the substate final Wednesday in Storm Lake. Storm Lake (21-9) and Estherville-Lincoln Central (21-11) collide tonight in another district final in Spirit Lake.
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