Hounds begin season with 17-1 rout of Nicollet

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Cathedral High plated five runs in the bottom of the third inning and then added 11 more in the fourth to rout Nicollet 17-1 Tuesday afternoon in the baseball opener for both teams.

The game was stopped after 4 1/2 innings because of the 10-run lead rule.

Joey Penkert was the winning pitcher for Cathedral, going four innings and striking out eight. The senior right-hander allowed three hits and one unearned run.

John Knisley closed out the fifth.

Jamie VanThuyne was charged with the loss for the Raiders, going 2 1/3 innings and giving up four runs. Matt Allerson was touched for seven runs while Nick Allerson absorbed the final six runs.

Raider pitchers gave up a total of seven walks in four innings and Cathedral bats hammered out 13 hits.

Joey Schugel and Brandon Reinarts each had two hits, with Jacob Mertz driving in three runs. Ten of the 11 players used by Cathedral each had at least one hit.

"This was a typical start for spring baseball in Minnesota," said Cathedral coach Bob Weier. "Joey struggled a little bit in the first and second inning when he got his pitches up, but after that he really settled down and found the groove and finished strong."

The second inning was when the Raiders would score their only run of the game. After Penkert struck out the side in the first inning, VanThuyne doubled down the left field line and would eventually score when he stole third and catcher Brandon Reinarts' throw bounced by Knisley at third.

After that Penkert settled down, allowing just two hits. But while Penkert found his rhythm on the mound, VanThuyne lost his.

Cathedral, who will host Sleepy Eye Public Friday at 3:30 p.m., took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Dusty Wilfahrt led off with a single to right. Hans Biebl's bunt was misplayed by VanThuyne to put runners on first and second with no outs. After Schugel flew out to center, Brandon Reinarts lofted a fly ball to right fielder Josh Allerson, whose drop allowed Wilfahrt to score for a 1-0 lead.

After Nicollet tied the game in that second, Cathedral would break lose for five runs thanks in large part to walks by VanThuyne. Consecutive walks to Biebl, Schugel and Reinarts allowed Joey Penkert to help his own cause with a hard single off of reliever Matt Allerson's leg, which scored Biebl for a 2-1 lead. Two more runs scored when Knisley's hard ground ball scooted just by Raider shortstop Marc Bode for a 4-1 lead. Penkert stole third and came home on a Jacob Mertz's fly ball, and Brandon Goblirsch followed with a single to center before a balk by Allerson allowed Knisley to score for a 6-1 lead.

"I am pretty happy with our hitting today," commented Weier. "Sometimes hitters will come out and be too anxious, but I thought that today we were patient. They went after good pitches."

The Hounds then ended the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, sending 14 hitters to the plate and scoring 11 times.

A Reinarts' RBI single, a fielder's choice and an error made it 9-1. Mertz's two-run single upped the lead to 11-1 and a Kyle Helget bloop single made it 12-1 before the Hounds pushed five more runs across.

"You always want to win the first game." Weier said. "You want to play well the first game and I thought that we did both. The game ended sooner than we wanted it to because we wanted to get some other kids into the game, but that is not the way that it was going to be."

Cathedral's B-squad trounced Nicollet 12-1.

Andy Klingler, Jeremy Penkert and Dustin Hillesheim each pounded out two hits. Klingler added three RBI. Penkert scored three runs and had one RBI and Hillesheim scored four runs.

Cody Fox earned the win on the mound, his first of the season.

NICOLLET 010 00 -- 1 3 4

CATHEDRAL 105 (11)x -- 17 13 2

WP-Penkert, LP-VanThuyne. 2B-VanThuyne (N).