Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Vicki Dombeck Bonduel Legion catcher Riley Allen tags out Clintonville’s Colton Kluth at home plate on a throw from Brandon Olsen in right field to end the top of the fifth inning in Bonduel’s 4-0 home loss Thursday.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Bonduel Legion second baseman Bryce Weier catches Clintonville’s Hunter Vollmer stealing during Bonduel’s 4-0 home loss Thursday. The Grizzlies allowed three unearned runs over the first six innings.
Hunter Vollmer reached base twice on errors and scored two runs for the Clintonville American Legion baseball team Thursday on the road, but it was his pitching that was even more impressive.
Vollmer allowed just three hits and struck out eight batters as he pitched a complete game in a 4-0 victory over Bonduel.
“He had them guessing. On top of his heat, that was the fastest I’ve seen him throw all year, and his curveball was just clicking,” Clintonville head coach Randy Finger said. “He hit all his spots.”
Vollmer gave up a leadoff single to Jordan Boldt in the first inning, but a double play against the next batter erased any threat.
Bonduel had just four base runners for the remainder of the game. Vollmer struck out the side in the third inning and did not let a runner get past second base all game.
“He kept us off-balance the entire game. Tip our hats to him because he had three pitches, and we were guessing up there,” Bonduel head coach Jason Boldt said. “It was a hell of a game.”
Vollmer got on base in the second inning via an error, stole second base and then advanced to third on Chad Bork’s single. With runners on first and third, the Grizzlies conceded second base to Bork. When Jordan Boldt went into his windup on the mound, the lefty was not able to see third base, and Vollmer stole home to give the Diamondcats a 1-0 lead.
“No pitcher ever thinks you’re going to steal home, and (Boldt) was taking his time to home,” Finger said. “Hunter is so extremely fast, and he’s a smart baseball player, and I told him, if you can get it, get it. We need every run.”
Kyle Finger scored on an error in the sixth inning, and then Cory Reimer laid down a suicide squeeze bunt in the next at-bat to score Vollmer to make it 3-0.
“We can’t afford to make mistakes like that,” Jason Boldt said. “When we have a good pitching performance, we have to make sure we’re not giving runs away. Credit to them again on hitting. They put the ball in play.”
Finger drove in Clintonville’s lone earned run of the game in the top of the seventh with a single down the left-field line, scoring Colton Kluth.
Jordan Boldt gave up one earned run over seven innings on seven hits. He struck out three and walked three batters.
“We didn’t help him with mistakes, and we can’t do that,” Jason Boldt said. “We’ve got to be mistake free.”
Clintonville (8-3) will travel to Bonduel (3-1) in the Class A Regional in June, and getting to face Bonduel’s top arm for now will give the team some much-needed confidence moving forward.
“Now we know what he can do. These guys know they can beat him. If they know that up there,” Finger said as he pointed to his head, “they can beat anybody.”
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Clintonville 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 4 7 0
Bonduel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4