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Paynesville Press - June 19, 2002

Bulldogs smoke Cathedral with 16-hit attack

By Michael Jacobson

Behind a gutty pitching effort by senior Jeremy Fuchs and a 16-hit attack, the Bulldogs beat conference rival St. Cloud Cathedral 13-5 on Friday afternoon in the consolation final at the Class AA State Baseball Tournament.

In so doing, the Bulldogs finished fifth in the state in Class AA and claimed their season series with Cathedral two games to one.

The Bulldogs handed Cathedral, the defending state champs, their first loss of the season, 5-4 in April. But the Crusaders exacted revenge a week later, beating the Dogs 11-1 in six innings.Josh Kampsen

At state, Paynesville lost to Class AA runner-up Blue Earth Area in the first round 14-9 while Cathedral lost to eventual state champion Rochester Lourdes 11-1 in five innings. Both West Central Conference North teams won in the consolation round (Paynesville 7-5 over Jackson County Central and Cathedral 7-1 over Pelican Rapids), setting up the rematch in the consolation final on Friday.

Before the game, coach Brad Skoglund was worried about his pitching staff, having used all three pitchers on Thursday. Fuchs, who pitched in all three games in the state tournament and threw almost six innings on Thursday, wanted to pitch against Cathedral and went the distance on the hill.

"I wanted to beat (Cathedral) because I've never beaten them before, I wanted to take fifth, and I wanted to end the year with a win," said Fuchs.

Fuchs threw great, according to Skoglund. "It was just guts," he explained of Fuchs' effort. "He was throwing hard today, and he mixed up his pitches. Fuchs was helped by a 16-hit attack, including eight extra base hits, against three Crusaders pitchers.

Junior Josh Kampsen had four hits in Paynesville's 13-5 victory over Cathedral on Friday. For the tournament, Kampsen was 8-13 with eight runs scored. He was named to the all-tournament team.

"Again, we won the flip and chose to bat first," said Skoglund. "We play better when we're ahead," he continued. "We thought, 'Let's get it rolling.' That was key."

The Bulldogs sure got it rolling all right, scoring four runs in the first inning on two-run doubles by seniors Wes Lieser and Nic Fuchs.

Junior Josh Krupke singled with one out, sophomore Adam Kampsen reached on an error, and both scored on Lieser's double to right-center. Senior Pat Rohe then walked, and both he and Lieser scored when Fuchs hit a double to right-center, too.

The Bulldogs added to their lead in the second inning. Junior Josh Kampsen, who had four hits in the game, doubled and scored when Krupke hit a homer to right-center.

Cathedral snuck up a bit on the Bulldogs, scoring a run in both the second and the third to make the score 6-2, but the Dogs outscored them 7-3 the rest of the way, making the final 13-5.

In the fourth, Josh Kampsen led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch, which was also ball four to Krupke, putting runners at the corners. Krupke then stole to put two runners in scoring position, and they both scored on Lieser's high-hop single over the first baseman and into right. Lieser came around to score on Rohe's double on a hit-and-run play.

In the fifth, Josh Kampsen homered to centerfield.

Leading 10-5, the Bulldogs closed the scoring with three runs in the top of the seventh. With one out, Jeremy Fuchs reached on an error, and senior Scott Buermann was hit by a pitch to put two men aboard. Fuchs scored and Buermann went to third when Josh Kampsen hit a double down the leftfield line, hitting chalk. Buermann and Kampsen then scored when Adam Kampsen hit a two-out single to left.

Paynesville-- 420 310 3 - 1316 4
Cathedral-- 011 030 0 - 5 9 2

Paynesville - Batting: Josh Kampsen 4-5 HR 2B-2 R-4 RBI-2; Nic Fuchs 3-4 2B-2 RBI-3; Adam Kampsen 3-5 2B RBI-2 R; Wes Lieser 2-4 2B RBI-4 R-2; Josh Krupke 2-4 HR R-3 RBI-2; Jeremy Fuchs 1-4 R; Scott Buermann 0-0 HBP R; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Jeremy Fuchs (W) (7-9-5-4-3-2);
Cathedral - Batting: Corey Linn 3-4 HR 3B R-2 RBI-2; Dave Carlson 2-4 2B R; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Jeff Koerber (L) (3-10-8-7-2-3); Adam Koopmeiners (2-3-2-2-0-4); Louis Opatz (2-3-3-0-0-2).



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