Howard County Clash Ends Up Going DCB’s Way
A late-innings rally helped push the Dannebrog-Cairo-Boelus Seniors past St. Paul last Thursday 11-3. The win keeps DCB’s multi-season winning streak alive as they improve to 3-0. St. Paul, after starting the season 3-1, fell to 3-3 with the loss.
Yet, it was St. Paul who did damage first.
After a leadoff single from Bryce Knapp, DCB’s starting pitcher Justice Peterson retired Ashton Meinecke and Jamison Rawlings for two quick outs. Then, with Knapp on third base, Zayden Weller walked and Levi Bader cleared the bases with a base hit to right field, putting St. Paul on top 2-0.
The defending state champions weren’t going to lie down, though.
During their appearance at the plate in the first, Tanner Simdorn and Carter Noakes forced back-to-back walks from starting pitcher Rawlings. Austin Casperson and Kolby Gorecki followed that with consecutive hits, putting three runs on the board heading into the second frame.
After a scoreless top of the second inning, Rawlings settled into a groove on the pitcher’s mound in the bottom half of the frame, recording two quick outs and looking to be on the way to a one-run ballgame going into the third. However, things began to unravel as four consecutive DCB batters drew walks, ultimately scoring Casperson to take a 4-2 lead.
St. Paul would score a run in the third inning on an RBI single from Weller, but DCB responded by extending their lead to 7-3 after a double from Nolan Herd and a single from the bat of Peterson.
Throughout the course of the following two innings, Peterson was dominant on the rubber. In just twenty pitches, the starting pitcher held St. Paul scoreless while setting down the St. Paul hitters in order. The only hitter to reach base got on by way of a fielding error.
Going into the bottom of the fifth inning, DCB held a four-run advantage. In order to activate the run rule, they would need four more scores. After back-to-back walks from Peterson and Simdorn, they were off to a promising start.
Two pitches later, Cade Ruhl loaded the bases with a bunt single. Two pitches after that, Bryce Gorecki flew out to left field, allowing Peterson to tag up and score DCB’s eighth run of the game. Before St. Paul was able to record the third out, Kolby Gorecki made the hit of the night, sending a ball deep to left field for a bases-clearing triple. In the next at bat, Gorecki scored the game-winning run after a wild pitch made its way to the backstop.
Kolby Gorecki led DCB on the offensive side, coming away with two hits, three RBIs, and a run in four at bats. Also earning hits were Peterson, Ruhl, Casperson, Bryce Gorecki, and Herd. Simdorn drew three walks and crossed home plate twice.
St. Paul’s Bryce Knapp headlined his team’s offense from the leadoff spot in the lineup. In three at bats, Knapp totaled two hits and a pair of runs. Weller, Quade Pederson, and Bader also earned hits on the night, with Knapp and Weller combining for all three scored runs.
DCB’s Peterson pitched all five innings and surrendered just three runs of five hits while striking out two St. Paul batters. Rawlings was handed the loss in his three innings of work, allowing seven earned runs and five hits. Weller pitched 1.2 innings in relief, giving up four runs and two hits.
The St. Paul Seniors looked to bounce back this week when they traveled to Central City on Tuesday, June 7th.
AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL
JUNIORS TEAMS OFF TO STRONG START
• THE ST. PAUL JUNIORS are off to a strong start this season after improving to a 3-1 record with a victory over Palmer-Wolbach-Greeley last Friday. On opening night, the Juniors handed Aurora a 12-3 loss before falling to DCB in a road matchup 14-4. In their showdown with PWG, St. Paul edged out a tightly contested home win 6-5. This Tuesday, the Juniors will be back in action against Central City before hosting Dannebrog-Cairo-Boelus at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 11th, in St. Paul.
• THE DANNEBROG-CAIRO-BOELUS JUNIORS split their first two games of the 2022 season, toppling Aurora 13-2 on opening night and falling to Palmer-Wolbach-Greeley 6-2 a day later. Last week, however, the Juniors improved their early season record to 3-1 with a convincing 14-4 victory over St. Paul. After the cancellation of Sunday’s home triangular, the DCB Juniors have a busy week ahead of them as they are slotted for four games in six days. On Tuesday, June 7th, they will battle Kearney before hosting Twin River on Wednesday, June 8th, at 5:30 p.m. Afterwards, they will travel for a road matchup with St. Paul (6/11, 12:30 p.m.) before hosting Grand Island on Sunday, June 12th, at 2:00 p.m.