Remsen St. Mary’s baseball secured a spot in the 1A state semifinals with a 14-0 five-inning victory over eight-seed Grundy Center in Carroll on Monday.
The Hawks did what the Hawks do best and that’s scoring runs. Remsen St. Mary’s scored three runs in the first inning on five hits. Xavier Galles, Cael Ortmann, and Jeremy Koenck each drove in runs in the first inning. The Hawks added another in the second inning on a base hit from Blaine Harpenau. The Hawks led 4-0 entering the bottom of the fourth when their bats woke up in a loud way. The Hawks exploded for 10 runs on seven hits while sending 14 hitters to the plate. Remsen St. Mary’s Head Coach Dean Harpenau says that the Hawks gameplan was to be aggressive at the plate against a pitcher who consistently threw strikes.
Blaine Harpenau got the start on the mound for the Hawks and could not be stopped. Harpenau allowed a leadoff walk to start the game, but he settled down after that retiring the next 14 hitters he faced including nine via a strikeout. The leadoff walk for Blaine forced him to take a moment and remember that he has the experience to be successful in this scenario.
Harpenau’s win on the mound was the 50th of his career at Remsen St. Mary’s. That win ties the program record for wins in a career with Doug Boever and Ron Barthole. The personal accolades are nice for Harpenau, but his ultimate goal revolves around his team.
The Hawks offense got big games at the plate from Cael Ortmann and Alex Schroeder. Ortmann ended the day 3-4 with a run, two doubles, and five RBIs. Schroeder went 2-3 with a double and four RBIs.
Remsen St. Mary’s improves to 27-3 and advances to Wednesday morning’s semifinals at 10:00 AM. Coach Harpenau knows that it has to continue to be business as usual for his ball club.
The Hawks will play Kee High on Wednesday at 10:00 AM in the semifinals of the 1A state tournament. You will be able to listen to that game on 1410 AM and 96.9 FM KLEM on Wednesday morning.
1A Quarterfinal Scores:
#4 Kee 4 #5 New London 3
#2 Council Bluffs St. Albert 9 #7 Lisbon 3
#6 Alburnett 8 #3 Tri-Center 6
