Freeburg pitchers quiet Waterloo’s hot bats in Midgets’ baseball win

The handful of baseball scouts behind home plate using radar guns Monday weren’t getting any 90 mph fastball readings from Freeburg Midgets senior Will Hogan.

That didn’t stop Hogan from being almost completely in control of one of the area’s best lineups as he limited second-ranked Waterloo to four hits and got relief help from Elias Czech in a 3-2 victory over the Bulldogs.

“I’m definitely not a flame-thrower and I always joke around with my teammates that I am,” said Hogan, who also was making his first start of the season after two previous relief outings. “Everything was working today, so it was a good day for me to pitch.”

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It certainly was as Freeburg won its fourth straight to improve to 9-2.

Key performers

Using location on his fastball and mixing in off-speed pitches, Hogan (2-1, 1.83 ERA) quieted a lineup that features six starters hitting .375 or better and potential major league draft pick and Arkansas recruit Jordan McFarland. Waterloo’s two through five hitters were a combined 0-for-11 against Hogan and the left-handed Czech.

“We knew that they were a great team coming into it,” Hogan said. “Coach kept saying ‘Respect everybody you play but don’t fear them.’ That’s exactly what we did today.”

Waterloo senior right-hander and Missouri State recruit Tyler McAlister also pitched well, limiting Freeburg to four hits while striking out three with a fastball that reached 90 mph on several occasions.

Both teams got a run in the first, with Waterloo scoring on sacrifice fly by McAlister. Freeburg’s Keegan Baxmeyer, hitting .516 with two homers and 17 RBIs, tied it with a two-out RBI single to right.

Key sequence

Freeburg rallied with two outs in the third, scoring two runs on three straight Waterloo errors and a wild pitch.

“You can’t make three errors in an inning and beat a good team,” said Waterloo coach Mark Vogel, whose team lost its third straight game after a 4-0 start. “Today we gave them too much. Give them credit, give their pitcher credit. That’s a good baseball team. But you’re not going to win a lot of games when you have three errors in one inning with two outs.”

Vogel said he hopes his team uses the adversity as a learning experience.

“That’s what’s great about this game,” Vogel said. “We talk all the time about you’ve got to be able to handle the bad and the good. We’re in a little rough stretch right now. We’ve a had a great schedule to statrt the year. We’ve been punched in the mouth the last couple days and nowe we’ve just got to take a deep breatth and come back to work tomorrow and get better.”

Gericke felt Hogan, with his assortment of breaking pitches and good control, would be a good choice against the hard-hitting Bulldogs. It’s been a tough athletic stretch for Hogan, who missed part of his senior football season and all of his senior basketball season because of labrum surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.

Hogan also sat out his entire junior basketball season because of mononucleosis.

“We figured he was the perfect fit,” Gericke said. “He was our best option for that potent lineup. They’ve got great athletes, they’ve got great hitters and we figured the way Hogan throws the baseball we can keep them off-balance.

“He’s a senior, he doesn’t get rattled.”

Freeburg’s defense made Hogan and Czech’s work a little easier, too. The Midgets didn’t commit an error and shortstop Ty Dill and third baseman Landon Touchette combined for 10 putouts between them.

“(Hogan) did a really good job today keeping the ball down in the zone and we hit a lot of ground balls, their kids made plays,” Vogel said. “You’ve got to give that kid all kinds of credit because he kept us from squaring the ball up today and we’re a pretty good offensive team.

“We’re going to score runs. They made the plays today and we didn’t. That was the difference.”

Hogan left after allowing a run in the fifth on Quinten Albrecht’s two-out RBI single to cut Freeburg’s lead to 3-2. Czech allowed one hit over two scoreless innings to pick up a save.

Both teams compete in the 3A playoffs and Waterloo eliminated Freeburg with a 5-3 regional win last spring. The Bulldogs have also been one of the area’s most talked about teams this season with their talented roster, which may have attracted even more attention from the Midgets.

“Reading the papers ... you guys do a good job of hyping games up,” Gericke said. “The local talent around here is phenomenal, but (my team) wants to be noticed too. By beating Waterloo, with getting the press they do, they’re ready.”

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 7:47 PM with the headline "Freeburg pitchers quiet Waterloo’s hot bats in Midgets’ baseball win."