Published: June 04, 2008 11:02 pm            

No. 2 Luers rips Cass in baseball regional

Marschand: “We ran into one whale of a ballclub”

HUNTINGTON — Cass went into the regional playing its best baseball of the season.

But the Kings ran into a juggernaut in the form of Fort Wayne Bishop Luers Wednesday in a regional contest at Huntington College. The Knights, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A, wrapped out 12 hits, seven of which went for extra bases, against four Cass pitchers in an 11-2 win.

Luers (27-3) advanced to face Tipton (14-10) in a LaVille Semistate semifinal contest Saturday at Covaleski Stadium in South Bend.

“We ran into one whale of a ballclub,” Cass coach Greg Marschand said. “I told these guys the Cubs were leading Major League Baseball, I’m not sure if they would have beat them [Wednesday]. They were that good. I hope they’re that good the rest of the way. I hope they win it all. If they play like that they will. They were darn good and we didn’t have any answers for them.”

The Kings (14-11) got on the board first in the top of the first inning after a leadoff triple by Drew Fowler and an RBI groundout by Jeff Marschand. Rory Mannering followed with a single and a stolen base, but Luers ace Kevin Kiermaier escaped any further damage with a pair of strikeouts surrounding a walk to Damon Foreman.

Foreman, who was dominant on the mound in a pair of sectional wins for Cass, got the start in the regional but didn’t get out of the first inning. The Knights got to the sophomore with five hits, including a pair of RBI doubles, and a walk. Foreman left with the bases loaded and one out trailing 2-1. Senior Ryne Stover relieved and recorded a pair of strikeouts surrendering an RBI single by No. 8 hitter Dan Wyss.

“I think hitter-wise they were very patient,” Greg Marschand said of the Knights. “With Damon, we’ve been able to throw curveballs on the outside corner and get them to take cuts at that, and these guys laid off and they just waited, and when we did throw a pitch in the strike zone they KO’d it. It’s nothing against Damon. Hopefully that’s gonna be a situation where he can learn to become a better pitcher from it, as well as the other guys that we threw out there.

“We threw a lot of young guys at them, and I’ll think they’ll just be a better team from that. But we ran into a buzzsaw.”

The Luers offense was relentless, chasing Stover after four runs, two earned, in 3 1/3 innings and sophomore Evan Depew after three runs in two innings of work. Sophomore Andrew Troutman finished for the Kings, allowing an unearned run in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Kiermeier held the Kings to two runs on six hits in a complete-game effort. The junior, who hits leadoff for the Knights, helped himself at the plate with a single, a triple and a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored.

“He can do it all,” Luers coach Gary Rogers said of Kiermeier, who throws right and bats left. “He can run, hit. He can bunt. … He’s a good player.”

Luers No. 2 hole hitter Isaac Baker doubled, tripled and had three RBIs and a run scored. Wyss went 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored.

“You win with seniors and that’s what we’re doing,” said Rogers, who was impressed with the Cass squad.

“When we scouted them we knew they had some athletes and we knew they were hard-nosed kids. We talked to our kids about that,” he said. “I think our schedule helps. We play a tough schedule and it has really gotten us ready for this.”

On top of their solid hitting and pitching, the Knights made some highlight-reel plays on defense and didn’t commit an error.

“They made every play they had to make,” Greg Marschand said. “For example Colton Zeck hits the ball about 399 feet, and [center fielder Tyler Watts] catches the ball over his shoulder running into the fence. They just made play after play. When you play like that, it’s hard to compete.”

Cass plated a run in the fourth inning when Colton Zeck led off with a single and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Brody Edgerly. Fowler went 3-for-4 to record half of the Kings’ hits in the game. Mannering went 2-for-3.

The Cass players credited Luers and noted the improvement they made since the start of the season.

“We came a long ways from the beginning,” said Jeff Marschand, a senior.

“You’ve got to credit our coaching staff for getting us through this,” added classmate Ethan Watkins. “We struggled a lot this year and they never doubted us. They knew we were going to get this far. They just strived for the best everyday in practice. They wouldn’t let us do anything but strive for the best. We’re all going to miss coach Marschand. He was the biggest part of my life in my baseball career. All these coaches mean a lot to us. That’s what’s going to hurt the most is missing them.”

        

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