Sam Ferguson was the hero for Winnebago Lutheran Academy on Wednesday night.
The sophomore pitcher drove in the winning run and earned the win on the mound as the Vikings beat St. Mary's Springs 6-4 from Herr-Baker Field.
In the top of the eighth inning, sophomore Mason Faust doubled to left field and Andy Simon sacrifice bunted the pinch runner, Miles McAuly over to third.
With one out and Ferguson at the plate with a 1-1 count, coach Mike Seibel called for the squeeze bunt. Ferguson missed it, leaving him with two strikes. Seibel doubled-down.
"I walked up and asked, 'Sam, can you get it down?'" Seibel said. "You kind of read the guys expression and he looked confident, he said he was getting it down.
"When the first one didn't go down, I actually said he's getting the second one down because he's got heart."
He was right.
Ferguson got the bunt down in front of home plate; Ledgers pitcher Kaden Krusick tried to shovel the ball to get McAuly, but was unsuccessful.
The ball got past Killian Stoffel, which allowed Ferguson to get to second on the play. Ferguson said he almost couldn't believe he got the bunt sign again.
"Did coach really just give me the sign?" Ferguson said. "That's what was going through my head.
"I got it down. I was just relieved."
Two batters later, freshman Ty Faris drove the pinch-running Owen Ehlke in to extend WLA's lead to two on an infield single.
In the bottom of the eighth, the first two batters each reached on singles. With runners on first and third, McAuly cut down Tate Baker trying to steal second, which would have given Springs two runners in scoring position.
Seibel said he was impressed with Ferguson's ability to calm himself back down and finish the game strong on the mound.
"To regain your composure and go back and pitch the eighth inning and shut them out, I couldn't be prouder of him," Seibel said.
WLA (7-7 overall, 5-6 in Flyway) had a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth with starting pitcher Sam Loehr's pitch count still below 50 pitches.
The Ledgers (6-10, 4-7) finally got into Loehr and then reliever Andy Simon, scoring three runs and tying the game. Luke Schwartz and Ben Anderson had back-to-back doubles during the rally.
Seibel said the response from his team shows the growth it has had this season.
"Four weeks ago we would have lost this game," Seibel said. "We would have hung our heads our heads and lost; I'm so proud of them that they kept their heads up and found a way to win."
コメント