By Becky Walz,
An early deficit proved to be too much for the Decorah baseball team Friday as the Vikes hosted Independence (14-20) in the Class 3A Substate 3 quarterfinals. It was the second meeting for the two squads this season on Olejniczak field with the Mustangs taking this one as well, 7-5.
Decorah ends the season 22-15.
Both teams scored a run in the first with Viking sophomore doubling and scoring on a Brady Bohner single. In the second frame, the Mustangs batted through the order and finished with five runs to put Decorah down 6-1. Leading off the bottom half of the second, Kelley Gates doubled and moved to third on a sac bunt by Brayden Wemark and scoring on a Kasen Tyler sacrifice fly to left.
Base runners were scarce for both squads in the third and fourth before each scratch across another run. Avila scored his second run of the game for Decorah with back-to-back singles by Kaden Alstad and Caleb Meyer. Trailing 7-3 into the bottom of the seventh, the Vikes tried to claw their way back with Brayden Hartl and Alstad scoring runs before running out of gas.
In the batter’s box Avila and Alstad went 3-for-4 with Avila pounding out a double and scoring twice. Alstad drove in a pair of runs as well. Meyer was the third Viking to have a multi-hit game with a pair of singles and two RBI. Others putting the ball in play were Hartl, Brady Bohner and Brayden Wemark. Bohner shouldered the loss in just over an inning on the hill.
“I’m beyond proud of how this group performed all season and been such a fun group of guys to coach. The nine seniors will be greatly missed. I don’t think I could have asked for a better group of seniors to help lead this program as a first year head coach. I truly appreciate everything they’ve done for me as a coach and what they’ve done for this program,” said Coach Alec Zwanziger. “I want to say thank you to all of my assistant coaches, Matt Kuempel, Josh Fenske and Brian Solberg. A head coach in any sport is only as good as their assistants. To all players, parents and fans, thank you for all of their support this summer. Future is bright for Decorah Baseball.”
Brady Bohner (LP) – 1-1/3IP, 6R, 6H, 2BB; Cash Riehle (RP) – 3-2/3IP, 1R, 4H, 2K; Landon Kuennen (RP) – 2IP, 2H, 1K
2B – Mason Avila 1; Kelley Gates 1; 1B – Kaden Alstad 3; Avila 2; Caleb Meyer 2; Brayden Hartl 1; Bohner 1; Brayden Wemark 1; RBI – Meyer 2; Alstad 1; Bohner 1; Kasen Tyler 1
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