| Pirates
take second at State
The Prairie baseball team took second place at state for the third time in their history as they fell to Kendrick twice during state action at Caldwell Friday and Saturday, May 20-21. In their four games at state they defeated Council 7-1, lost to Kendrick 5-8, defeated Notus 11-9 then lost to Kendrick in the championship game 0-10. The Prairie Pirates opened the state tournament with a 7-1 win over Council in action at Caldwell Friday, May 20. Neither team scored in the first 3 innings but Prairie pushed a run across in the fourth to take the lead. The Pirates extended the lead with a 3-run sixth inning highlighted by Eric Lerandeau’s 2-run double. Prairie added 3 more runs in the seventh before giving up Council’s lone run in the bottom of the seventh. C.J. Rieman pitched first 4 innings with Danny Riener taking over in the fifth and Chad Arnzen pitched the seventh inning. The three combined on a 5-hitter with 10 strikeouts with Arnzen allowing the only run. Prairie had 10 hits in the game with Mat Forsmann, Rieman and Arnzen each collecting 2 singles while Lerandeau had a double and Philip Henry and Chris Schumacher each added a single. Arnzen had 2 RBI. Prairie 0 0 0 1 0 3 3—7 10 1 Council 0 0 0 0 0 0 1—1 5 0 In the winners bracket game against Kendrick on Friday, May 20 Prairie took the lead twice but couldn’t hold it as Kendrick won 5-8 to drop Prairie into the loser’s bracket. Prairie scored a run in the top of the first but Kendrick scored twice in the third to take the lead. Prairie took back the lead in the fifth 4-2 when they scored 3 runs but Kendrick answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the inning and added 3 more in the sixth. Prairie was able to score one in the seventh before the game ended. Mat Forsmann pitched the whole game for the Pirates and gave up 13 hits to the Tigers. Prairie managed 8 hits in the game with Riener collecting a double and a triple. Rieman had a double and single, Forsmann had 2 singles and Kevin Funke and Chad Arnzen had a single each. Prairie 1 0 0 0 3 0 1—5 8 2 Kendrick 0 2 0 0 3 3 x—8 13 0 On Saturday morning Prairie scored 3 runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead and beat Notus 11-9 to advance to the championship game. Prairie was down to their number 4 pitcher in the contest as Arnzen got the start and went the first 5 innings. Forsmann pitched the sixth and Riener the seventh. Prairie took the early lead as they scored 3 in the first and 1 in the second to lead 4-2. Notus got to Arnzen for 5 runs in the bottom of the third on 4 hits and 2 errors to take the lead. Prairie came back with a run in the fourth and 3 in the fifth to take back the lead at 8-7. Notus took back the lead in the sixth with a pair of runs. In the seventh Prairie loaded the bases on a walk and two errors then Henry singled to center with the centerfielder overrunning the ball to allow all three baserunners to score. Prairie had 13 hits in the game led by Funke who had a double and 2 singles and Henry who had 3 singles. Forsmann had a double and single while Riener, Arnzen and Rieman had 2 singles each. Prairie 3 1 0 1 3 0 3—11 13 5 Notus 2 0 5 0 0 2 0— 9 11 5 In the championship game against Kendrick it was a one-sided affair as Kendrick’s Rex Ireland held Prairie to just 1 hit while the Tigers pounded out 9 hits and scored 10 runs to win 0-10 in 6 innings. Forsmann had Prairie’s only hit, a 1-out single in the first inning. Rieman started for Prairie and gave up 3 runs in the first and 1 in the third before running out of innings. Riener pitched the final 3 innings and gave up an additional 6 runs. The game was called after Kendrick scored 2 in the sixth on the 10-run mercy rule. It was Kendrick’s third straight state title and seventh in the last 8 years. The Pirates end their season with a 13-10 record. Prairie 0 0 0 0 0 0— 0 1 1 Kendrick 3 0 1 4 0 2—10 9 0 
The Prairie Baseball team with their second place trophy from the state tournament. Front from left are Daniel Sigler, Mat Forsmann, Clark Tacke, Sean Daly, Danny Riener holding his cousin Jake’s jersey, Kevin Funke, Nate Kaschmitter, Ben Schumacher and Ryan Daly. Back from left are coach Jerry Uhling, Chad Arnzen, Ben Forsmann, Sam Forsmann, C.J. Rieman, Phil Henry, Chris Schumacher, Eric Lerandeau and coach Pat Holthaus. |
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