Minster’s Jace Hemmelgarn reaches for home plate on a suicide squeeze…the go-ahead and winning run in the Wildcats’ 4-1 win over Wapakoneta. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
A pitcher’s duel for five innings, Minster used a pair of suicide squeeze bunts to finally go ahead and claim a chilly win Monday over visiting Wapakoneta, 4-1.
Minster, OH – There were any number of things the Minster Wildcats did Monday night that thrilled veteran coach Mike Wiss with the manner in which they ultimately handed visiting Wapakoneta a 4-1 non-conference loss.
One, Minster got good pitching, a combined effort between starter Andrew Ketner and reliever Dominic Meyer that held Wapak to just one run and six hits.
Minster Bank proudly sponsors the best in area sports coverage on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Two, Minster played error-free defense in support of Ketner and Meyer.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
And three, shortstop Andrew Wiss (the son of the coach) delivered a suicide squeeze bunt to score teammate Jace Hemmelgarn with a go-ahead run in the fourth inning…then bounced a ground ball through the drawn-in infield in the bottom of the sixth to drive in an important insurance run.
Pitching, plus defense, plus execution of the nuance things in baseball means wins, and that’s just how Mike likes it…after thirty years and four OHSAA state titles in baseball, he knows. They can’t all be ‘slug’ wins!
“All those things – the squeeze bunts, the pitching, the defense – made me think about what we want to be as a team late in the year,” said Wiss with a broad smile, just three games into his schedule…and 3-o, by the way.
“You have to win some games like that. And at this point of the year I can’t remember ever putting down two suicide squeeze bunts and two successful sac bunts like we did tonight without even a tipped or a foul ball. Am I pleased? Yeah, I liked it.”
Did Minster’s Carson Kaylor catch it…actually no, but not for lack of effort on this short fly ball in the third inning of Monday’s win over Wapakoneta.
Of course, no baseball game is actually perfect, and this one was no exception. Wapak’s lone run came in the top of the first inning when starting pitcher Andrew Ketner walked the leadoff hitter, who went to second on a sacrifice bunt, then advanced to third on a ground out and ultimately scored on a two-out single…1-0, Wapakoneta.
What goes around, comes around, of course as Wapak starter Abram Long walked Minster’s Ty Hein in the bottom of the first, who likewise made it to third base and scored on a two-out error by the shortstop on a booted ground ball….game tied, 1-1.
Dorsten Contracting proudly supports the best in area sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
And it stayed tied as both Ketner and Long pitched scoreless baseball in the second and third innings.
Ketner was replaced after his three innings by Dominic Meyer in the fourth, while Long ran into some issues in the bottom of the inning.
Andrew Ketner pitched the opening three innings for Minster, allowing 1 run on three hits…….
He walked Jace Hemmelgarn to lead off the inning, the cardinal sin of baseball. Then, he balked Hemmelgarn to second base. On a ground out by teammate Chase Dirksen, Hemmelgarn advanced to third base with one out; and honestly, there were those in the chilled audience looking on that actually murmured…here comes the squeeze.
And sure enough, with Andrew Wiss at the plate, and probably one of the best bunters anywhere in high school baseball, Papa Mike put on the suicide squeeze play. Hemmelgarn came charging down the line and Wiss placed the bunt out between home plate and the mound as casually as if he were brushing his teeth. Hemmelgarn dove headfirst for the plate, but he didn’t need to. He could have scored on a unicycle.
Minster Dental is proud to sponsor the best in area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
“We talk about the suicide squeeze at home sometimes,” Andrew Wiss smiled at the mention of it, post-game. “But mostly later in the year. Everybody on our team knows that this game isn’t easy. And sometimes, against a really good team like Wapak, you have to do the little things, a sacrifice bunt or a suicide squeeze, to put a run on the board…or another run on the board. You don’t think about your batting average, you think about what it takes to win.”
And to be a good bunter – which there aren’t that many in contemporary baseball now, at any level of the game – you have to be confident in your ability to execute. Andrew Wiss is the exception to the modern rule of baseball.
“I take pride in being able to bunt the ball, so I’m pretty confident,” he answered. “Since I’ve never been able to turn anyone’s head. And it’s not easy. Right there on that play there were four dudes charging the plate as the pitch was on its way. And you think…oh no…because if the bunt is up in the air it’s a double play and you’re out of the inning.”
Baseball is not easy, to agree with Wiss, and Andrew Ketner maneuvered through a tight third inning when Wapak put runners in scoring position with two out, only to ground out to Wiss at shortstop for the third out.
And Dominic Meyer closed out the game and the win, with four innings of three-hit, scoreless baseball, while striking out three.
And Meyer would be challenged in the top of the sixth when Wapakoneta showed its best threat of the game to score – a leadoff single, a hit batsman, a second hit batsman – before Meyer induced a looping line drive that second baseman Reese Beair caught on his knees between first and second for the third out.
Coaches like insurance runs, as well, and in the Minster sixth they added on.
Carson Kaylor walked to lead off the inning, then went to second on a sac bunt. Chase Dirksen then singled to put runners on first and third, bringing Wiss to the plate. Someone murmured suicide bunt, again, but Wiss worked the count to get a fastball and bounced it back through the middle to score Kaylor with the ‘Cats third run. Then…Johnny Inskeep. The designated hitter dropped down another suicide squeeze with one out to score Dirksen with the fourth run of the game…and it was all up to Meyer to close it out in the top of the seventh, which he did.
Minster won it with 4 runs on 5 hits and no errors.
Wapakoneta lost it with 1 run on 6 hits and had 2 errors.
Dominic Meyer was credited as the winning pitcher, with four innings of scoreless relief, giving up three hits and striking out three.
“All the little things that we did today are what wins baseball games,” (Mike) Wiss reaffirmed before going to doing one of a high school coach’s other duties, post-game. He had to shut down the concession stand.
“And against a team that swings the bat as well as Wapakoneta does, what Andrew Ketner (three innings) and Dominic Meyer (four innings) did…that was pretty good work.”
Everything, it seemed, except the part about the hot dogs and the popcorn…….
Was just the way Mike likes it.
Wilson Health/Orthopedics proudly sponsors the best in area sports and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Press Pros.