(Bondurant) The 8th ranked CAM baseball team finally got over the hump in the substate final round. The 8th rated Cougars are heading to the Class 1A State Tourney with an 11-1 win over Ogden on Tuesday.
The team’s twelfth straight win featured a red hot start. They sent 10 to the plate in a five run 1st inning and sent nine to the plate when they tacked on five more in the 2nd. The Cougars posted nine hits over the first couple of innings.
The 10-0 lead with ace Lane Spieker on the hill gave CAM plenty of reasons to be confident. Spieker’s only rough patch of the game came in the 3rd inning when an error and two walks loaded the bases. Kaden Moorman was hit by a pitch to bring in Ogden’s lone run of the contest. The Bulldogs managed only two hits off Spieker who had come into the contest with a 0.72 ERA. With six strikeouts in Tuesday’s substate final win, Spieker now has 259 career K’s.
Dylan Purdue relieved Aidan Kathman on the mound for Ogden with two outs in the 1st inning. By the 3rd frame he’d found a groove and retired six in a row. Designated hitter Chase Spieker brought that stretch to an abrupt halt when he led off the 5th inning with a hard hit single down the left field line. Ryan Bower ran for Spieker. Bower went from 1st to 3rd on a wild pitch, sliding under a tag on a close play. Another wild pitch allowed Bower to score which ended the game via ten run rule at 11-1.
Colby Rich had two hits including a double and drove in one run. Chase Spieker was 2/2 with two RBI. Jack Follmann had a two run double. Joe Kauffman and Cade Ticknor each had an RBI single. Lane Spieker hit his 10th double of the season. Ethan Follmann brought in a run on a sac fly. Brody Paulsen posted one single.
The 27-2 Cougars last qualified for the state tourney in 2017. They’ll play on Monday, July 18th at Merchants Park in Carroll. Other 1A qualifiers include #1 St. Mary’s Remsen, #2 Newman Catholic, #3 New London, #6 North Linn, #10 Kingsley-Pierson, South Winneshiek, and Lisbon.
Ogden got a double from Aidan Kathman and a single out of Jack Christensen. The Bulldogs end their season at 23-10.
