Exorcising their Demons

LENOX — Things were far from cheery for Lenox fans and players in the midst of trailing 7-1 after a big fourth inning from visiting Lamoni Thursday.

The Tigers’ experienced squadron recovered to place all the necessary pressure on a young Lamoni team to emerge with an 8-7 win to advance to the Class 1A District 13 final Saturday.

Lenox will host visiting Nodaway Valley at 7 p.m. in a rubber match after Lenox defeated NV 4-3 on June 12 and NV got the best of Lenox 10-8 last Thursday.

“For whatever reason they wait until about the fifth inning every game and it drives my blood pressure up a wall,” Lenox coach Trevor Luther said. “Other than that, they do things right.”

Aaron Schmitz tossed three perfect innings with five strikeouts before surrendering three straight baserunners and was pulled when he reached 40 pitches. The change enables him to be available for pitching in Saturday’s game without rest after throwing 29 pitches against EU Tuesday.

The Tigers’ 1-0 lead disappeared in the fourth as two walks and a passed ball from pitcher Cullen Wood allowed three Demon runners to score.

Zach Schmitz then entered the game with the bases loaded and allowed each of those runners and one more to score as the Demons found their confidence with their bats. RBI base knocks from Curtis Roberts out of the bottom of the lineup and Cael Ogier stretched the Lamoni advantage to six runs.

The 7-1 lead was daunting, but Zach Schmitz did his part to hold the deficit as he worked on the hill until the seventh inning.

Luther came away impressed with the fight from Lamoni’s young squad that featured just one junior and no seniors this season.

“They were ready from the get-go. They strung a few things together. They do things right,” Luther said. “They’re really young over there. They’re coached well though. They hit their cuts and they do all the little things right. This time of year, if you’re doing the little things right, that means something and it goes a long ways.”

In the fourth, Colton Gordon’s heads-up baserunning led him to third, where with two outs, Gordon sprung into action.

He raced home for a stolen base just passed the tag of catcher Braeden Boswell thanks to a crafty slide to slip his hand across the front side of the plate.

“He got on base, he was smart. He understood this kid (Lamoni pitcher Landon Gilliland) was in the windup a lot,” Luther said. “Very slow to the plate. I gave him the go-ahead, he did what he did and made an unbelievable slide. Fortunately it meant something.”

While that was the lone Tiger run in the fourth, it proved a needed boost of energy.

Colton Hogan and Gordon came around to score in the fifth inning when Aaron Schmitz’s two-out grounder to third off of Lamoni reliever Stephen Ansong was thrown past first and then past third.

Derek Venteicher blasted a single back up the middle to score Schmitz to cut the Lenox deficit to 7-5, but was caught at third on a pickoff by Lamoni’s catcher with the bases loaded for the final out of the fifth.

It was one of four times the Tigers left the bases loaded.

In the sixth, off of Kade Nowlin, Danny Ramirez doubled to deep left field, moved to third on a wild pitch and scooted home when Jhordan Montiel’s chopper got enough air to beat out an infield hit to put the Tigers down 7-6.

Gordon followed with a single before Colton Hogan’s grounder resulted in interference that put one out on the board and runners on first and third.

Nowlin balked with Montiel on third, forcing a 7-7 tie, and with the pressure on the young Demons, Aaron Schmitz confidently smoked a single through the middle of the infield to plate a fired up fellow senior, Colton Hogan for the 8-7 lead.

“That pitcher struggled and we capitalized on that, which is really nice for us,” Schmitz said. “I was thinking ‘put something in play here,’ and I ended up getting a single.”

Once again, it was the cadre of seniors at the top of the lineup, Hogan, Schmitz, Venteicher and Christensen that helped spark the Tiger comeback, with the assistance of those they lead along the way. Everyone contributed, as each of Lenox’s eight hits came from a different player while Schmitz, Hogan and Gordon and each scored twice.

“These seniors have sheer will to never give up and they never go away,” Luther said.

Playing to the raucous ovation of the Tiger faithful helped Gordon to step out from his catcher’s spot to the hill and retire three straight batters, two with strikeouts, to leave Gilliland stranded on third to end the contest.

Now, Schmitz is likely to receive the ball to pitch against Nodaway Valley with a district title on the line.

“If I hammer down and throw strikes I should be fine,” Schmitz said. “Throw my game and no one can hit me.”

Lamoni bowed out with a record of 13-7.

Lenox will enter Saturday’s game with a record of 16-9 while NV owns a 10-13 mark.

Lenox 8, Lamoni 7

R H E

Lam 000 700 0 — 7 5 3

Len 102 005 x — 8 8 1

Lam: Landon Gilliland 7K 7BB, Stephen Ansong (4) 0K 3BB, Kade Nowlin (6) 0K 0BB Len: Aaron Schmitz 5K 2BB, Cullen Wood (4) 0K 3BB, Zach Schmitz (4) 4K 1BB, Colton Gordon (7) 2K 0BB and Gordon. W — Schmitz (2-2). L— Nowlin. HR — none. 3B — none. 2B — Lam: Gilliland 1. Len: Danny Ramirez 1. RBI — Lam: Curtis Roberts 2, Cael Ogier 1, Body Dykens 1, Braeden Boswell 1. Len: Schmitz 1, Venteicher 1, Montiel 1. Multiple hitters — Lam: Roberts 2, Gilliland 2.