(CAM) The only time CAM held a lead in their district final victory over Lenox on Saturday night was when Lane Spieker scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 7th. The 9th rated Cougars advance in the postseason with a 7-6 win and will play #4 St. Albert on Tuesday.
CAM needed a dramatic comeback to earn the Class 1A District 13 title. Starting pitchers Lane Spieker and Keegan Christensen breezed through the first couple of innings, but Spieker ran into control issues in the 3rd. All six of Lenox’s runs came in the 3rd inning when CAM gave up three walks, two hit batters, committed a pair of errors, and allowed one hit. Kauffman relieved Spieker with one out in the frame and was effective. He struck out seven batters in his 3 2/3 innings of work. Kauffman walked three batters on the night and gave up a two-run double to Samson Adams, which was the visitor’s only hit of the game. Cade Ticknor was sharp in a 1-2-3 7th inning with two ground ball outs and a strikeout. Lenox had just three players reach base over the final four innings. Two were on walks and one was a fielder’s choice.
Christensen faced just nine batters through three innings. He struck out four in that span and allowed only one hit the first time through the lineup. Ultimately he allowed seven hits, no walks, five runs, and struck out four in 4 2/3 innings. CAM got on track offensively in the 4th. Connor McKee got it started with a one out single and Spieker followed with a double. After Colby Rich was hit by a pitch to load the bases, a pickoff throw at first base sailed into right field to plate two runs. Cade Ticknor added an RBI double in the 4th to close the gap to 6-3.
The Cougars inched closer with two runs in the 5th. Joe Kauffman got a fortunate hop on a hard hit ground ball to 3rd for a one out single. The next two batters also got hits with an infield single from Connor McKee and one run double out of Spieker. Spieker finished 3/3 on the night with a pair of doubles, one RBI, and two runs scored-including the game winner. He has scored 59 runs on the season. Rich delivered an RBI groundout in the 5th to snug things up to 6-5. It was the 64th RBI of the year for Rich. Samson Adams entered in relief for the Tigers and got the final out of the inning. Adams pitched the 6th and 7th as well.
Ethan Follmann’s leadoff double in the 6th inning led to him evening the game at 6-6. Follmann went to 3rd on a dropped third strike and scored on a wild pitch.
CAM had their 3-4-5 hitters due up on the 7th, needing just one run to win it. Spieker walked to set the table. Lenox tried to pick him off at first, but threw it away and Spieker scooted up to 2nd. The next batter was Colby Rich who hit a high fly into shallow right. The ball was dropped and Spieker scampered to third, putting runners at the corners with no outs. With Cade Ticknor at the plate, Spieker pounced home on wild pitch to make CAM a 7-6 winner.
Lenox played three straight one run games in the postseason. They beat East Union and Nodaway Valley each by scores of 4-3, before coming up on the short end of a tight one with the Cougars. Lenox ends the year at 21-12. CAM improves to 25-6 on the season. They will get a shot at #4 (31-8) St. Albert on Tuesday in Glenwood. We’ll have the game on 96.5 KSOM. The Falcons survived a close call with Exira-EHK on Saturday. They needed three runs in the final two innings to prevail 3-2. St. Albert beat CAM in a substate final game last season, 9-5.
