Orioles claim Class 1 baseball championship

Erupting for four first-inning runs, the Concordia Orioles baseball team rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Brashear Tigers to claim the school's first-ever state championship Thursday at Meador Park in Springfield.

"It seemed like everything was clicking today," CHS head coach Nate Beissenherz said. "Having the fans from Concordia come down here all the way to Springfield was awesome. We had a packed house. When the boys saw that, they were ready to stick the dagger in this thing and bring home the championship."

Usually a slow-starting team, the Orioles plated four runs on two hits, two walks and a Brashear error in the opening frame.

"We came out and were ready to play," Beissenherz said. "There was no nerves or jitters or anything. We wanted this thing badly. The guys were really calm before the game. We knew it was ours for the taking."

"We were on their pitcher," Collin Werths said.

Drew Smith opened the game with a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Smith raced to third when Tyler Tolias laid down a bunt down the first-base line and legged it out, courtesy of Brashear second baseman Adam Songer's inability to touch first base after getting the throw from first baseman James Scudder.

Tolias immediately stole second base. The Tigers' Hayden Coin, obviously rattled by the quick turn of events, uncorked a wild pitch, Smith racing home and Tolias to third. Then Coin walked Carter Brown, who proceeded to swipe second base. Hayden Brown followed with a deep fly ball to the fence in left field for a two-run double.

"There were so many heroes. Hayden's been hitting it hard all tournament," Beissenherz said. "He also did a great job of calling the games from behind the plate as a freshman."

"Hayden's been hitting the ball well all year, just right at people," Carter Brown said. "In the post season, he was finding the gaps."

The four-run rally ended with a two-out base hit by Cale Brunkhorst, scoring Zach Wolski, who was a courtesy runner for Hayden Brown.

Alic Frerking was asked to give the Orioles at least three innings and he hurled four solid frames, allowing only a run on three straight two-out singles in the bottom of the third inning.

"Game plan was to get four or five from Alic. I knew Carter could throw four today, but he sure threw a lot of pitches yesterday (in CHS's 9-3 semifinal victory over St. Elizabeth last Wednesday)," Beissenherz said.

"Getting out to that 4-0 lead, Alic came out relaxed and ready to have fun," Beissenherz said. "He threw strikes and did a good job of mixing things up. He had a good deuce working today. He threw his heart out and did exactly what he needed to do."

"It's great that we jumped on them early because it gave me confidence, took away some of those butterflies before the game," Frerking said. "All I wanted to do was throw strikes because we have a great defense and they were going to back me up wherever they hit it."

"That was real big, Alic going four innings," Carter Brown said. "I was tired from last night. My arm was a little sore. I wasn't completely at 100 percent, so I'm glad Alic could go that extra inning that I didn't have to pitch."

"In a big game, Alic came up big," Smith said.

The only chink in the Orioles' defensive armor was overshadowed by a great play on the back end. Werths raced over from straight away center field to try to catch a line drive off the bat of Matthew Thomas but couldn't make the catch. The play was ruled a base hit by the official scorer.

"I just took my eye off the ball for a split second," Werths said. "It hit the palm of my glove and I dropped it. I should have caught it."

Cody Snelling then hit a grounder to J. R. Langkrahr at third. The senior uncorked a wild throw to first base for the Orioles' lone error. But Smith fired a throw back to Langkrahr who applied the tag to James Scudder to start the bottom of the second, but the Tigers never threatened to score, right fielder Jacob Harms catching a line drive off the bat of Hayden Housman to end the inning.

Brunkhorst, Langkrahr and Kent Schuette received back-to-back-to-back two-out walks to load the bases in the third. But Werths' hard line drive was snagged by Nicholas Thomas at third base.

"We just had trouble hitting it right at them," Smith said.

The Tigers finally got to Frerking in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Nicholas Thomas flared a single to short right field.

That was followed by a solid single up the middle by Matthew Thomas and a bad-hop single over the head of Tolias at shortstop, scoring Nicholas Thomas. Frerking avoided further damage when Scudder's grounder to the right side hit Snelling as he was racing for second base, resulting in the third out due to runner interference.

The Orioles went down 1-2-3 in the fourth.

"They (the Tigers) did a good job of locking it down defensively after the first inning," Beissenherz said.

Brashear missed a golden opportunity to cut into the Orioles' lead in the bottom of the fourth. The Tigers got a solid single to left field by Coin on the first offering from Frerking. Then came a passed ball, a walk to Daniel Smith and a sacrifice bunt by Housman. Frerking pulled a Carter Brown, reaching back for a little extra and fanned Nicholas Gordon on three pitches and Adam Songer on a high hard one when he was in trouble.

Hayden Brown started a rally in the fifth inning that put the Orioles ahead 5-1. He lashed a double over Brashear center fielder Matthew Thomas' head. Again Wolski ran for Hayden Brown, moving to third on a passed ball, and scoring on a one-out base poke to right field by Cale Brunkhorst.

"Cale struggled some throughout the season, but he really came through when we needed it the most," Smith said.

The Orioles failed to add any more runs despite having runners on first and second after Langkrahr got a single that hopped over shortstop Housman's head. Kent Schuette struck out and Collin Werths hit a soft line drive at Housman to end the frame.

Carter Brown entered the game for Frerking in the fifth and wasn't overpowering, but he faced the minimum nine batters over the final three frames.

Carter Brown set down the Tigers 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth.

"I learned last year in summer ball that you don't always have to strike out everybody," Carter Brown said. "I was pitching for ground balls and fly balls. The defense backed me up. My defense did a great job."

Back-to-back singles by Smith and Tolias gave the Orioles a shot at blowing open the game in the sixth. But after failing to lay down a sacrifice bunt, Carter Brown fanned, Hayden Brown struck out and Frerking flied to center.

Scudder hit a soft line drive off the glove of Carter Brown to open the bottom of the sixth. But Brown scrambled to pick up the ball and fired a strike to Smith to nip Scudder at first base. Coin flied out to Brunkhorst in medium depth left field and Daniel Smith's slow roller up the first-base line was picked up by Carter Brown before it went foul and his flip to Smith was in time.

CHS added a huge insurance run in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Kent Schuette worked Thomas, who moved from center field to pitcher after Hayden Brown's fifth-inning two-bagger, for a walk after falling behind 1-2. Then Werths drove a ball to right-center field that Coin got a glove on but couldn't corral. Schuette raced home with run No. 6 and Werths scooted to third for a triple.

"He (Werths) came through again. He was due," Beissenherz said. "Once again, the bottom part of the lineup got the job done."

"None of my hits were falling for me. But I finally sat back and drove one," Werths said.

Beissenherz was keenly aware of what had happened to Santa Fe in last year's title game and also that the Tigers had come from behind to win the majority of their games in the postseason this year.

"We were aware of that, but we have so much faith in Carter and our defense that I wasn't too worried about it," Beissenherz said. "Once we got that four-run lead, I felt pretty good."

Carter Brown nailed down the crown with a flourish, striking out the side in the seventh, the final two on curve balls.

"My curve ball was working really good today. It was breaking good today," Carter Brown said.

"Talk about some efficient pitching--33 pitches, 21 strikes. He was right on. He was ready to go, ready to lock it down," Beissenherz said.

"He (Carter Brown) has a tendency to get stronger as the game goes along," Smith said.

Frerking was the winning pitcher, striking out three in four innings. Carter Brown whiffed four in earning the three-inning save.

It came down to a total team effort, according to Beissenherz.

"Drew Smith did a great job of getting on base. Tyler Tolias was a team player in laying down sacrifice bunts," Beissenherz said. "(In the sixth), that was all Carter wanting to be a team player in trying to lay down a sacrifice bunt with no outs. You usually don't want your No. 3 hitter doing that, but he was just using his head and knew it was a good bunt situation.

"It was just a smart, intelligent team overall. I'm so proud of them. Tyler Tolias was like a field general, getting the guys in the spots where they need to be.

"Our outfield did a fantastic job. When the ball was hit, we were confident they were going to make the play. There was no clenching up because there wasn't a weak fielder. They could have hit it to anybody, and we knew we were going to get the job done."

The total team effort was exemplified all over the field.

"Jacob Harms did a good job of eating up innings all year, going 5-0 on the mound and did a great job of playing defense in right field," Beissenherz said.

With only two seniors--Langkrahr and Harms--the future looks bright for the Orioles.

"It is unbelievable, the youth, intelligence and talent of these young players," Beissenherz said. "We couldn't have done it without talented players."

The Orioles finished with eight hits, including two doubles by Hayden Brown and two singles by Brunkhorst. Each had two RBIs. Werths added a triple and Smith, Tolias and Langkrahr a single apiece.

"You've got to give some props to assistant coach Brandon Figg. He did a great job of helping them hit this year," Beissenherz said. "We were almost a .400-hitting team, and a lot of that was due to Brandon Figg."

Frerking allowed one run on four hits and struck out two. Better yet, when he got into trouble, he forced the Tigers to hit his pitch, stranding six runners on base. It was Frerking's second win of the season. Brown, who finished the year a perfect 11-0 with a sub-2.00 earned-run average, earned the three-inning save.

The Orioles won their final nine games of the season, finishing the state-championship campaign with a 19-3 mark. Brashear dropped to 13-5.

The Orioles' motto before the season started was: "Play like a champion; be a champion," Beissenherz said.

The future certainly looks bright for the Orioles, who sported a post-season roster of 20 players, including only Harms and Langkrahr as seniors. There were 10 juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen.

That doesn't mean the Orioles, who were making only their second baseball Final Four appearance (the other being 2003 when they finished third) in school history, will be back at the state level again next year, but it looks like they will have the talent. However, there are no givens in sports.

"We're going to work hard in the off-season and hopefully get even better," Frerking said.

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