By Becky Walz,
The South Winn baseball team (26-10) survived a thriller of a matchup with Saint Ansgar (23-9) on Tuesday evening in a district semifinal game at Shooky Fink Field in New Albin. The two teams have battled the past two years in substate games, and this postseason rematch was no disappointment with the Warriors coming out on top, 5-3.
The district final match-up is set between the Upper Iowa Conference co-champions South Winn and Kee for Saturday, July 17, in New Albin at 7 p.m.
The Warriors struck first with a run in the first on a Keagen Streeter two-out single and then plated two more in the second on a two RBI double with two outs by Ethan Luzum. Saint Ansgar jumped on the board with an unearned run in the third, but senior centerfielder Cael Kuboushek fired a rocket of a ball to home plate throwing out the potential second run of the game at the plate to end the rally.
The Warriors completed their scoring in the fourth inning on a monster home run by Logan Hageman over the left field fence. The score remained 5-1 heading into the seventh where the Saints plated two runs, but relief pitcher Nick Holien induced a pop up to third baseman Briar Tigges to finish the game.
The story of the game was great defense by the Warriors and an outstanding pitching performance by senior ace, Ethan Luzum. Luzum struck out 13 batters, walked one, and surrendered just three hits in his 5 1/3 innings of work. He re-entered the mound four times to get the Warriors out of critical situation, and Jordan Buchheit and Nick Holien combined to record the rest of the outs. Luzum tossed 90 pitches and is eligible to throw in the district final game on Saturday evening.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of baseball games in my 20 years of coaching and have never had a situation that involved the pitching strategy we went with to beat a high-quality opponent and keep our top pitcher eligible for the next game. What Ethan did on the mound was amazing and our defense was as good as it has been all season and Cael’s big throw out was a huge momentum changer,” said Coach Alex Smith. “Jordan and Nick were a big part of what we need to do to keep our rotation in line for the next game. Some big hitting moments by Keagen, Ethan, and Logan produced the timely runs we needed. Our guys will be fired up for another opportunity to play on Saturday.”
South Winn manufactured five hits in the game with Luzum helping his cause by going 2-for-3 in the batter’s box with a double and two RBI. Hageman smashed the homer, while Streeter and Carson Wenthold connected for singles.
R H E
S. Ansgar 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 6 1
S. Winn 1 2 1 1 0 0 x 5 5 1
Ethan Luzum (WP) – 5-1/3IP, 1R, 3H, 1BB, 13K; Jordan Buchheit (RP) – 1/3IP, 1H, 1BB, Nick Holien (RP) – 1-1/3IP, 2R, 2ER, 2H, 2BB, 2K
HR – Logan Hageman 1; 2B – Ethan Luzum 1; 1B – Luzum 1; Keagen Streeter 1; Carson Wenthold 1; RBI – Luzum 2; Hageman 1; Streeter 1
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