Panthers stopped just short of a trip to state
Royall's Cody Biermeier makes a throw from his knees to get the final out in the Panthers sectional semifinal win over La Farge.
By David Paradise
Star-Times Sports Editor
Just two games away from a trip to the state tournament, the Royall Panthers boys baseball team traveled to Potosi on Tuesday for the WIAA Division 4 sectional tournament.
Awaiting the Panthers was the La Farge Wildcats in the sectional semifinal. Royall was able to take advantage of some early miscues by La Farge pitcher Steve Vesbach.
The Panthers first batter Allen Roscovius was hit by a pitch and Brian Miller drew a walk to give Royall a pair of runners with no outs in the top of the first inning.
Tom Vieth drove in Roscovius with a single, and would later score on a Riley Brown single. Miller scored on an RBI by Cory Witt, as the Panthers took an early 3-0 lead.
The score remained at 3-0 until the top of the third, when the Panthers' offense went back to work. Miller singled and stole second, Vieth picked up his second single of the game and Cody Biermeier walked to load the bases for Witt.
Witt also walked to score Miller and Matt Vieth hit a two RBI single to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead after the top of the third inning.
With Tom Vieth on the mound for the Panthers, Royall shut down the Wildcats early. Vieth gave up just one hit and the Royall defense was solid through three.
Royall added another run to their lead in the top of the fourth. Roscovius singled and would score on a Vieth groundout to put the Panthers up 7-0.
La Farge wouldn't give up and was able to turn four hits in the fourth into three runs to cut the Panther lead to 7-3 after four.
Following a scoreless fifth, the Wildcats were able to produce another run to narrow the lead to just three heading into the seventh.
Royall scored a pair of runs with two outs in the seventh. Witt singled to get things going. Brown picked up his second hit of the night and Matt Vieth drove in another run with a double and Brown was able to score on a passed ball to give Royall a 9-4 lead and put them just three outs away from advancing to the sectional finals.
Down to their final out La Farge picked up a hit, but with two outs, Tom Vieth was able to pick up the win as Biermeier made a diving stop at third and made a tough throw to get the runner out from his knees and give the Panthers the win.
Matt Vieth led the Panther offense with a pair of hits and three RBIs. Tom Vieth and Brown each added two hits for Royall. Vieth also struckout three and scattered eight hits in a complete game.
Game two pitted the Panthers against the Barneveld Golden Eagles, who advanced with a 1-0 nine inning win over the Belmont Braves in the other semifinal. Barneveld came into the game riding a wave of emotion as they topped the Braves on a walk off RBI single by Josh Slaney, and held Belmont scoreless giving up just three hits through nine innings.
Royall's offense looked to get the Panthers off to another strong start in the sectional final. Roscovius was able to reach first on a throwing error, but the Golden Eagles pitcher Shawn Monson turned a double play and Royall was held off in the first.
Barneveld's offense found its rhythm and did some damage with two outs in the bottom half of the first, as Slaney hit an RBI triple to right, and later scored on a double by Weston Peterson as Barneveld was able to take an early 2-0 lead off three hits.
Royall couldn't get anything going in the second. Barneveld looked to add to their lead in the second as they started off the inning with a single and had two on with just one out, but pitcher Cody Biermeier shutdown the Golden Eagles with two strikeouts and kept the Panthers within two.
Both teams offenses failed to get much going against the solid pitching of Biermeier and Monson as they went into the top of the fifth with the score stuck at 2-0.
Witt started of the fifth for the Panthers with a single and Matt Vieth walked to give Royall two on with just one up, but a pitching change by the Golden Eagles to lefty Patrick Clerkin stalled the Panther attack and the score remained 2-0 after five.
A scoreless sixth followed and the Panthers were down to their final three outs. Brown drew a walk but Royall couldn't rally and fell 2-0.
The Panthers were held scoreless and limited to just two hits by the combination of Monson and Clerkin, who combined with Weston Peterson pitched 16 scoreless innings and gave up just five hits.
Biermeier pitched a solid game giving up just five hits but the Golden Eagles were able to hold on after getting the early lead.