Evansville Mater Dei Baseball: My Site News

Two more Wildcats have National Letters of Intent this past week.  Seth LaRue, Sr. Catcher has agreed to play his college baseball at Olney Central for Coach Dennis Conley. 

And LaRue will be accompanied by Mike McIntosh, Sr. Pitcher, who was MD's #1 option all season last year as a rising Jr.   LaRue and McIntosh will follow in the footsteps of two other former Mater Dei players who will be playing this coming spring for the Blue Knights. 

 Jerad Eickhoff will return as one of Olney's leading hurlers for his sophomore campaign after electing to pass on a professional baseball career.  He couldn't come to terms with the Chicago Cubs after being selected in last June's Major League Baseball Draft, so he will be back this spring on the mound at Olney.  In addition, Eickhoff has already signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his baseball and academic careers at Western Kentucky University after he concludes his sophomore campaign at Olney.  Of course, he is draft-eligible again this coming summer after he completes his two year stint in JC at Olney, so stay tuned ...................

 Coach Conley's raid of MD's baseball cupboard these past couple of seasons is rounded out by Caleb Eickhoff, who will be a red-shirt freshman utility player for Olney that should compete for time as a regular position player this coming spring.

Other former Wildcats currently playing collegiately are Hank LaRue, freshman infielder at Middle Tennessee State University, Brad Wannemuehler, freshman outfielder for the 2009 DII National Champion University of Southern Indiana, sophomore pitcher Joe Major, who lettered as a freshman last spring and looks to be part of the pitching picture at Murray State University next spring., and Indiana State red-shirt freshman infielder Jake Weinzapfel, who also should vie for playing time for the Sycamores next spring.

Coach Schulz takes great pride in this short track record and hopes to continue a Mater Dei tradition that has produced MLB draftees Rob Mauer, Mike Goedde, Chris Schaefer, and Todd Neimeier.

After advancing to regional play with high expectations after a 4th consecutive Sectional Championship (2008,2009 & 2010 in 2A and 2007 in 3A), the Cats postseason rally train got derailed in the most heartbreaking, gutwrenching fashion- via the walkoff home run in the bottom of the 7th inning.  South Putnam scored all 7 of its runs on 5 home runs on the day- the 5th putting an end to game and season.  The Cats had trailed all game, as was the case in the last 2 games of their sectional championship run, and rallied again, just as they had in the sectional wins, to knot it up at 6 heading into the bottom of the 7th.  But South Putnam only saw one pitch in their half of the frame and 'that was all she wrote'! 

 It was a tough way to end a very fine season.  The overall 22-5 record was the best in many seasons.  The squad earned the school's first SIAC and City Championships since 2006 in the process with a 12-2 record in the SIAC while running 10-2 in the City.   Ironically, the last time the Cats won the City & SIAC was the last year in which Mater Dei didn't win a sectional title.  

Monday, May 17th was a red-letter day for the trophy case at Mater Dei.  Shortly after the Cats pounded out an 18-8 mercy rule win over visiting Southridge, it was learned that by virtue of Castle's extra inning win over Memorial tonight, the Cats garnered their first official championship for 2010- the SIAC Championship. 

 Following the Varsity onto venerable Bosse Field's surface, the Freshman squared off against Memorial's Freshman in the Championship of the SIAC Freshman tournament.  It took 8 innings and lots of gut-wrenching but with a not-so-routine 6-3 groundout, the Mater Dei Freshman added a little more hardware to the trophy case.

 Yes, it was a very good day!

Speedy centerfielder Brad Wannemuehler will become the fifth ballplayer to move on to play baseball in college out of the 2009 and 2010 Mater Dei classes.  Brad had offers at Division I MVC programs from the University of Evansville and Indiana State, but ultimately, he liked the opportunity presented to him with the Division II University of Southern Indiana program better.  The Eagles have been perrenial challengers in one of the toughest DII conferences in the country, the Great Lakes Valley Conference, and they have been nationally ranked the past few since Tracey Archuleta took the reigns.  Go to the link above to learn more about USI baseball. 

We need all able-bodied hands on deck this coming Saturday at 8:30am for our annual field day.  There are several tasks that will be undertaken:

 1.  Take down batting cage netting and store for winter.

2.  Take down outfield signs and store for winter.

3.  Repair/reinforce batting cage support structure.

4.  Prep dirt portion of infield for winter (Till & remove grass)

5.  Secure/repair dugout benches.

6.  Paint dugouts

7.  Weather seal dugout benches.

Anyone having a barrell or plastic tub big enough to store the batting cage for the winter should call Tim Major at 499-1058 to let him know.

Just a follow-up note of thanks to all the helped with the fall field day.  We accomplished all the projects listed above as well as aeriating the outfield in preparation for seeding come spring.  

Hertage Christian had a fight at the bat rack most of the 3rd inning because it seemed like they could've sent the bus driver to bat and gotten a hit in a frame where they would send 11 men to plate and scored 7 times on 6 base hits and two walks.  The only big blast of the inning was a two run HR by the Eagles #3 hitter, centerfielder Chris Ward, his 14th of the season, but that was after the Eagles managed to hit the baseball to just about every open space on the field.

It turned an early 4-0 lead provided curtesy of Corey Lipking's first inning grand slam off Eagles starter, Ryan Ledbetter, into a 9-4 deficity that proved to be just too much to overcome.  Mater Dei would leave the bases loaded in their half of the 3rd and strand a single runner again in the fourth before Lipking struck again with his second HR of the game, a solo lineshot to dead center to make it 9-5 in the 5th. 

HC could tally another insurance score in the top of the 6th to move the gap back to five runs again.  Mater Dei Got 3 runners on base again in the bottom of the 6th but could not score as Brent Weinzapfel lined out to LF to end the threat.  Mater Dei then got 3 more runners on base in the bottom of the 7th inning and did get a 2-out RBI single from Caleb Eickhoff before the 2009 season would end for the Cats.

On the day, Mater made 7 outs on line drives hit right at a Heritage Christian outfielders.   That, coupled with all well-placed hits that fell the Eagles' way, proved to be the difference in the game.

Providence came into Saturday's action coming off a pretty impressive Sectional Championship run.  But it was pretty apparent by about the 3rd inning that there were too many Weinzapfels for our friends from Clarksville today as Brent Weinzapfel launched two HR's into a pretty stiff breeze in right center, scored twice, and drove in 5 runs, while Jake Weinzapfel added two more hits, scored two more runs, stole a base, as Mater Dei's offense seemed to pick up where it left off in last Monday's 9 run 7th inning.   When the carnage was over, the Cats scorched some pretty decent Providence pitchers for 11 runs on 11 hits and no Clarksville errors in the mercy rule, six inning affair.

Meanwhile, Jerad Eickhoff was keeping the bats warm with quick work on the mound .  The lanky 6'5" righthander seemed to overpower Providence as they just couldn't seem to do much with the downward plane and run on Eickhoff's offerings, even when they were ahead in the count.  He would surrender a single, harmless run after the outcome had long been decided in the last inning on 4 hits,  while striking out 7, and walking 4, running his record in the process to 7-1 on the season.

In the nightcap Regional Championship:

The only way to really describe this one is that is was workmanlike.  After scratching tallies each of the first three innings and leading 4-0 heading into the home half of the 4th, you really had the feeling the dam was about to burst on South Putnam's big righthander Noah Boswell.  But, he had managed to keep the game close through the first three frames.   Hunter Owen led off the 4th with a harmless grounder to 3B for the first out, but by the time the second out of the inning was recorded, Boswell had been knocked out of the box and the Mater Dei led 12-0.  In between those two outs, 3 hits, 2 walks, a hit batsmen, and 3 SP miscues determined the outcome of this one.  Brad Wannemuehler and Caleb Eickhoff would prove out to be the big guns in this one, both collecting two hits.

It would be all Joe Major would need as he cruised through 5 pretty uneventful innings of work on the bump.  He would go to 5-1 on the spring with the win, and strike out five while giving South Putnam just two safeties on the night.

After falling behind 2-1 on a routine fly ball that nobody could find in short right field in the bottom of the sixth inning, it seemed like this team might really be snake-bit for good this spring.  But 9 runs on 9 hits later, these Cats looked more like snake-charmers, and once again for the third straight year, Mater Dei's baseball team is a sectional champion.

Hank LaRue led off the top of the 7th with a crisp liner into left-center right over the shortstop and then Jake Weinzapfel doubled over the centerfielder's head bring Brent Weinzapfel to the plate with runner on second and third with nobody out.  Ranger Head Coach Jarred Howard trotted to the mound presumably to instruct his hurler, Logan Mohr, to unintentionally walk the Big Cat, load the bases and set up a force play at every base.  But apparently not because Mohr proceeded to pitch to Weinzapfel, who lined a 1-2 fastball down the rightfield line for what appeared to be the g0-ahead runs.  Not so fast- Jake Weinzapfel's cleats failed him around third base causing him to slip and not score the go-ahead run.  With the score now knotted at 2, Corey Lipking worked Mohr for a free pass, only his 3rd of the game and when Brad Wannemuehler lifed a pop up to short left field, it looked like MD would have 1st and 3rd with one out.  But to everyone's surprise, Jake Weinzapfel took off for home after the catch and easily scored the go-ahead run standing up giving Wanni the Game Winning RBI with the unexpected SAC fly.  The rest of the Cats would pile it on from there with Seth LaRue, Jerad Eickhoff, Hank LaRue(again), Jake Weinzapfel(again), Brent Weinzapfel(again), and Corey Lipking would all produce solid line drive hits in the inning. 

By the time Joe Major went back to the mound to finish things off in the bottom of the 7th, the bad luck of the 6th inning fly ball that fell unseen was a very very distant memory.  He made sure the Rangers would not answer, yielding a harmless unearned run in the bottom of the 7th sealing the win and the championship.

 They will move on to Saturday's Regional, in Austin, and will play the winner of the Brownstown Central-Charlestown Sectional Championship game, at 1:00 pm (EDT).

Jerad Eickhoff had to be wondering how many innings he was going to have to hold a potent Vikings batting lineup down as Mater Dei came to bat in the bottom of the 6th inning locked in a 1-1 battle in Friday's Sectional semifinals at Tell City. 

He didn't have to wait much longer as the Cats strung together hits like they hadn't in quite some time.  Brent Weinzapfel started things off with a seeing-eye, 16 hop bouncer through the 6 hole and after getting SAC'd to 2B by Seth LaRue, he was able to coast home with the lead run on a Brad Wannemuehler liner over the right fielder's head that short-hopped the fence for a triple.  When North Posey's freshman second baseman Jerad Melliff sailed the throw trying to get Wanni at third into the dugout, Brad was awarded home for a 2 run cushion.  But the Mater Dei offense, now seemingly awakened from its slumber, piled on 4 more hits by Caleb Eickhoff, Corey Lipking, Andrew Harsh and Sam Fleming.  Those safeties resulted in two more tallies, which be more than Jerad Eickhoff would need to finish the visiting team off in the top of the 7th to seal the win.

With the win, Mater Dei will advance to Monday's, 7:00pm Sectional Championship rematch with Forest Park, who is currently ranked #1 in Indiana by the IHSBCA coaches poll heading into the post season.  The Rangers outlasted Mater Dei earlier this spring in a very hotly contested 1-0 9 inning marathon.  Monday's rematch figures to be another good one.

Check out this link for polls just released by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association.  Polls are voted on by a panel of coaches and released every Monday during the season.    Evansville Central is #6 in 4A, Vincennes Lincoln is #6 in 3A and Forest Park is #2 in 2A after suffering its first loss, a 2-0 decision to Kentucky #1 ranked Owensboro Apollo.  

Mater Dei's baseball team will open up this weekend in Knoxville, TN in the SportsBelle Classic against 3 of Tennessee's powerhouse programs, so they will get an idea right away how they stack up against some very stiff competition.  They open up with Knoxville Bearden HS, Friday night at 6:45PM (EDT).  Beaden's website is http://www.eteamz.com/BeardenBulldogs/ and if you will visit the site, you will see they are currently 14-3 overall heading into this weekends tournament action.  In fact, in 2008, they went 36-5 overall and were one of only 3 teams to beat Tennessee's 3A (largest) state champions, Knoxville Farragut.  Bearden already have 4 seniors signed to play Division I college baseball next year out of this year's 2009 senior class.

One of Bearden's 3 losses this spring thus far came at the hands of Mater Dei's second opponent of the weekend, the aforementioned 3A defending state champion Knoxville Farragut team.  Farragut went 42-3 last season, and is 14-2 thus far in 2009.  If you go to their website at http://www.admiralbaseball.com/ you will see they are currently ranked the #1 High School team in the NATION according to Perfect Game/Baseball America  (See http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/articles/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=691 for that ranking).  Farragut beat Bearden 10-4 in their only meeting thus far in 2009, and also already has 4 seniors signed to play Divsion I college baseball beginning this fall. 

The 3rd game of the tournament pits Mater Dei against Knoxville Karns High School, another 3A powerhouse program.  According to Mater Dei Head Coach Jeff Schulz, "Any time you go south to play this kind of competition, at their place, in their surroundings, it makes it a very tough challenge.  But in this case, playing 3 games, the first three games of the season, all within 24 hours, with only two weeks of practice, and very little time to develop pitchers' stamina, we'll be happy to come home healthy and with a sense of what we need to work on when we get back.  We'll relish the opportunity to see how we stack up against some of the best high schools teams in the country though, so that should be fun and exciting to see at the same time.  We hope this early test will make this group well-prepared for the rigors of the SIAC and the 2A state tournament later this spring."

Mater Dei then will play at Vincennes Lincoln on Monday at 5:30pm before beginning their home schedule Wednesday night at Bosse Field against North Posey at 5:30pm.  Mater Dei returns 10 Varsity Letterman from last year's Sectional Championship team, including 8 of the top 12 batting averages from a team that hit .351 overall last season and 8 of 9 position players from a defense that fielded .953 last season

Coach Schulz will be holding a parent meeting for parents of all high school players in the school cafeteria next Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at 6:30pm.  Details about the tryouts, team assignments, schedules, strategies, and plans for the upcoming season will be passed along at the meeting.  Coach Schulz feels it is highly important for everyone to attend so the information communicated won't have to be repeated 35 times, so hopefully, everyone can make time to attend.

Mater Dei Baseball Fundraiser @ Pizza Hut (W. Lloyd Expressway)
Date/time: Friday, May 1 - all day
MD Baseball receives 20% of sales including Dine-In, Carry-Out and Delivery.
Coupon must accompany order. It can be downloaded from the Baseball Booster Club Tab on the left.