Calvary baseball beats wet field, Versailles

At 4 p.m., with just 30 minutes until game time, it appeared Calvary Lutheran wouldn't be playing baseball Tuesday.

But half an hour later, the torrential rains had stopped and there were numerous puddles left behind.

At 5 p.m., after some tremendous work by the grounds crew, the field was ready for play.

But half an hour later, it appeared they shouldn't have bothered, as the Lions were in a hole against Versailles.

And by 6:30 p.m., all of the craziness appeared worth it when Calvary rallied for a 6-3 win on Senior Day.

"The win was the icing on the cake," Calvary coach Rusty Bourg said. "Here comes the deluge and nobody thinks we're playing, then the grounds crew says, "By golly, we're going to play.'"

It seemed only fitting that on a day where the seniors were honored, a pair of them combined on a three-hitter.

Hance Sommerer pitched the first six innings, scattering three hits while giving up three runs (two earned). He walked just one and struck out seven.

"Everything was working for me - curveball, fastball, changeup," Sommerer said. "I just felt good."

Sommerer had much of his success by getting the Tigers to repeatedly chase high fastballs that were out of the strike zone.

"That was an in-game adjustment," he said. "I saw that they were chasing the high fastball a lot, so I kept throwing it."

Beau Monson came in for a scoreless seventh and struck out two while walking one.

"I was planning on Beau pitching the seventh inning no matter what," Bourg said, as Sommerer had thrown just 81 pitches at that point. "Beau hadn't pitched since last Thursday, so it just worked out where he got to come in and close it out."

Sommerer, Monson, Bradley MacLaughlin and William Doggett were the seniors honored after the win.

Sommerer kept the Lions in the game during a rough first four innings for the offense, as Calvary's only hit in that span was a single by Sommerer in the first.

"I was getting a little nervous at that point," Bourg said.

Versailles had opened the scoring with a two-run first inning aided in large part by a Calvary infield error and a misplayed fly ball that turned into a two-run double by Taylor Dobbins.

Sommerer got a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning and limit the damage.

"I thought, "Here we go,' but Hance took a deep breath and stayed focused and it paid off," Bourg said.

The Tigers got their final run in the third on a double by Brendan Owsley, a groundout by Dylan Ballew and an infield RBI single by Dobbins.

The Lions finally broke through in the fifth, when the first five batters all reached safely.

Ray Eickmeyer got hit by a pitch, Jordan Duenckel walked and Alex Flannigan singled before Monson forced in the Lions first run with a bases-loaded walk.

Colin Bernskoetter followed with an RBI single before Sommerer tied it with a sacrifice fly. MacLaughlin then put the Lions ahead for good with an RBI groundout that made it 4-3 after five.

"That was just getting some momentum," Bourg said. "I knew if we could get a little bit of momentum going and keep their runs to a minimum, we'd have a shot."

Calvary got two insurance runs in the sixth. Shea Crisp led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Eickmeyer. Alex Gentges then came on as a pinch-runner, and he got sacrificed to third by Duenckel before scoring on an RBI single by Flannigan.

"That was huge for Alex Flannigan to come up with that two-out base hit, because he's been struggling a little bit at the plate," Bourg said. "He needed that, so hopefully he will take that into the rest of the year."

Flannigan went to second on a wild pitch soon after. He then stole third, and when the throw from the Versailles catcher sailed into left field, he came home to score the game's final run.

Duane Danner took the loss in relief for Versailles. Owsley pitched the first two innings, not allowing a run on one hit and one walk while striking out four. Danner followed with two-plus innings of work, giving up four earned runs on two hits and two walks with one strikeout. Ballew finished up, giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits and one walk while striking out one in two innings.

While Calvary (7-6) is slated to host Belle at 10 a.m. Saturday, the weather forecast looks dire and the Lions knew there was a chance Tuesday's game could be their final home game of the season.

"We just wanted to go out with a bang and get some momentum going for districts," Sommerer said.