Xavier Baseball

Keller got standing ovation from big crowd at Nebraska

Jon Keller pitched in front of big crowds in the Big 12 Conference last year, but what he saw at Hawks Field in Lincoln, Neb., last Saturday stunned him.

There were 5,298 fans in the stands that day to see Nebraska play California. Keller, a sophomore from Cedar Rapids, was the starting pitcher for the Cornhuskers. He'd seen crowds of 3,000 for a game before, but nothing like this.

"Awesome. Unbelievable. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he told the Metro Sports Report.

"You don't really notice it at first, and then once you settle yourself down and you look around a bit you go, 'Oh my goodness, there are so many people here.'"

It was 64 degrees with clear blue skies that day, unseasonably warm for March 10th in Nebraska. There's a new buzz for Nebraska baseball this year and the Cornhuskers were hosting a quality opponent, so the fans came out in droves.

Keller pitched well that day against Cal. He went 7 1/3 innings and allowed only three earned runs in a 12-5 victory. He threw 100 pitches and walked only one batter.

"Then when I came out of the game, I tipped my cap and I got a standing ovation," he reported. "It was awesome."

Keller, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound righthander from Xavier High School, tossed another strong game Friday in a 22-3 victory over Louisiana Tech before 2,918 fans at Hawks Field. He went six innings and allowed only one earned run.

Keller has a 3-0 record with a 3.72 ERA in six starts this season and is the No. 1 winner on the club. He's already matched his victory total from a year ago, when he went 3-6 with a 3.62 ERA.

His earned run average is about the same, but his control is much better this season. He walked 37 batters in 64 2/3 innings last season, but has walked only seven batters in 29 frames this year.

Last year, he walked 5.1 batters per nine innings. This year, he's walking only 2.2 batters per nine innings.

Keller credits Ted Silva, Nebraska's new pitching coach, with making a few key changes in his delivery. Keller has moved from the left side of the pitching rubber to the right side, and he's adjusted where he keeps his hands.

"I had a few kinks to my delivery. It's really helped me to work downhill in the zone," he said.

Silva pitched at Cal State Fullerton and was an All-American in 1995. He pitched in the Texas Rangers organization for five years and was the pitching coach at UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount before joining Nebraska this year when former Major Leaguer Darin Erstad was named head coach.

Erstad played baseball at Nebraska and has injected new energy into the program. "You can definitely tell there's a new buzz in Lincoln about Coach Erstad and the coaching staff," Keller said.

The Cornhuskers beat Louisiana Tech again on Saturday, 11-4, raising their record to 14-6 after an 0-3 start. They're riding a five-game winning streak.

"I just think we have good chemistry," Keller said. "We just have that killer instinct. If we have a chance to put somebody away, we do it."

Erstad has liked what he's seen of Keller.

"Jon Keller has worked very hard in the offseason," Erstad said before the games began in February. "He has really improved his work habits since he got here, and I think he'll see the rewards."

There are three Cedar Rapids products on the Nebraska ballclub this year. Chad Christensen, a Cedar Rapids Washington graduate, is the starting shortstop and is having a strong campaign. Austin Christensen, a Kennedy grad and Chad's brother, is a freshman pitcher and first baseman but has not played due to a strained ligament in his left elbow.

Chad Christensen went 2-for-4 in Saturday's 11-4 victory with his sixth homer and two more RBIs, giving him 27 ribbies in 20 games. He's batting .417 with 35 base hits.

The Cedar Rapids connection has not gone unnoticed.

"We were down in Peoria, Arizona, for our first weekend of the season," Keller related. "There was a guy there from Cedar Rapids. He kept yelling 'Cedar Rapids' the whole game. It was kind of funny."

Austin Christensen hopes to start playing in a few weeks. Once he does, there could be a game when Keller is pitching, Chad Christensen is at shortstop and Austin Christensen is at first base.

"That would be really cool," Keller said. "I hope it happens."

Saints claw back, but fall in the 7th

Dubuque Hempstead senior Nick Barker had one previous at-bat in his varsity career when he stepped to the plate with one out in the top of the seventh inning of a tie game against Xavier on Monday night at Ken Charipar Field.

"I struck out," Barker said.

But not this time.

Barker pushed a bunt past Xavier junior pitcher Mack Mattke for a single, courtesy runner Mitch Brimeyer made it to second base on a groundout and Sean Fitzgerald ripped a liner down the left-field line for a run-scoring single that lifted Hempstead past Xavier, 9-8, in a Class 4A substate semifinal baseball game.

Hempstead (21-18) advances to play Kennedy (30-8) in the substate final Wednesday at Kennedy at 7 p.m.

Xavier finished its season 26-11.

Barker came into the game as a relief pitcher in the bottom of the sixth inning and set the Saints down after Nate Even had blooped a leadoff double. Barker was then the second batter for the Mustangs in the seventh inning.

Hempstead Coach Jeff Rapp said he thought about pinch-hitting for Barker, who then would have been out of the game.

"We felt we needed to send him back out to the mound," Rapp said of Barker. "He was certainly our best option on the hill. We thought that if we got a runner on, that he would certainly bunt. I didn't know he was going to bunt for a hit there, but he put it in a perfect spot."

Barker said he opted for the bunt when he saw Xavier junior first baseman Kevin Hosch playing back.

"I haven't had too many at-bats so I thought (the bunt) was the best chance that I had," Barker said.

The bunt did not rattle Mattke, Xavier's third pitcher of the night. He got Aaron Collins on a grounder to short, but Brimeyer, running for Barker, got a jump from first base and there was no play on him at second.

Fitzgerald fouled off a 1-ball, 2-strike pitch before turning on a hanging curveball and lacing it down the line.

"I left it up," said a terse Mattke, who allowed only the one run and fanned three in his three innings of work. "It is more disappointing that I did this on the seniors. That is the most disappointing thing. It hurts not going to state and winning here, and all that stuff. But it hurts most letting my seniors down."

Barker (5-2) walked Hosch leading off the bottom of the seventh, then retired the next three batters to end the game.

While the ball was in Mattke's hand when the deciding blow was struck, the Saints spotted Hempstead far too many runs in the early innings. Hempstead scored three runs in the first inning and four in the third for a 7-0 lead that went to 8-1 in the fourth. The Mustangs tagged Xavier starter Dane Mehring for eight hits over 2 1/3 innings and normally sure-handed Saints shortstop Blake Helms committed three errors.

"We're normally a better fielding club and we just didn't make the plays," Xavier Coach Dave Schemmel said. "I didn't know if it was the humidity or what, but we just didn't seem to be able to get a grip on the ball ... It was just one of those nights."

And, yet, it was nearly one of those nights for the Saints, who parachuted three hits into medium right field just off the foul line during a six-run fifth inning that tied the game, 8-8. Helms capped the inning with a two-out, bases-clearing bloop double that knotted the score.

"We finally got a few to fall," Schemmel said. "It was unreal."

If it was unreal for Schemmel standing in the third-base coaching box, it was downright freakish for Hempstead right fielder Adam Kennedy, who came up empty on three diving tries.

"They'd get a bloop hit that would drop in for them, then they'd smoke one right at me," said Kennedy, who tumbled hard to the turf diving for Helms' hit. "I played deep to prevent doubles and triples, and then they'd just dropped them in there. So what can you do?"

Kennedy got an easy fly ball off Helm's bat to end the game.

"One right to me, that was nice," he said.

Hempstead had 10 of its 12 hits over the first four innings in building an 8-1 lead.

Xavier collected four of its seven hits in the six-run fifth inning. The Saints also loaded the bases in the third and fourth innings, but managed only one run in each frame. The Saints were the beneficiaries of seven bases on balls and three hit batsmen.

"It comes down to spotting those guys seven runs," Schemmel said.

HEMPSTEAD (9)
Sean Fitzgerald, ss, 3 1 2 2, Kyle Wiest, cf-3b, 5 1 1 2, Adam Kennedy, rf, 4 1 2 1, Cody Leach, 1b, 3 0 1 1, Andrew Seymour, pr, 0 1 0 0, Brad Duwe, p-cf, 3 0 1 1, Chad Crabill, c, 4 0 1 0, Pete Keleher, cr, 0 1 0 0, Nick Johnson, lf, 4 1 2 0, Ben George, 3b, 2 1 0 1, Jake Bortscheller, p, 0 0 0 0, Nick Barker, p, 1 0 1 0, Mitch Brimeyer, cr, 0 1 0 0, Aaron Collins, dh, 3 1 1 0. Nick Stevenson, 2b, 0 0 0 0. Totals 32 9 12 8.

XAVIER (8)
Blake Helms, ss, 4 0 1 3, Corbin Woods, 3b, 3 1 1 0, Nate Even, 2b, 3 1 2 1, Mack Mattke, 1b-p, 4 0 1 0, Colin Brown, cr, 0 2 0 0, Alex Ries, cf, 2 2 0 1, Bryce Grimm, lf, 2 0 0 1, Dane Mehring, p, 0 0 0 0, Tyler Hines, p, 0 0 0 0, Kevin Hosch, 1b, 2 1 1 0, Eric Zenisek, rf, 3 1 1 1, Colby Brecht, c, 2 0 0 1, Andrew Sodawasser, cr, 0 0 0 0. Totals 25 8 7 8.

Hempstead  304 100 1 -  9  12 0
Xavier         001 160 0 -  8   7  3

Duwe, Bortscheller (5), Barker (6) and Crabill. Mehring, Hines (3), Mattke (5) and Brecht. W - Barker (5-2). L - Mattke (5-3). 2B - Leach, Helms, Even.

No.9 Saints scrape by Dubuque Senior, 5-1

Just about everybody expected Xavier to defeat Dubuque Senior in the Class 4A playoffs Friday night, but not like this.

The Saints scored four unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and scrambled past the Rams, 5-1, in the substate quarterfinals at Ken Charipar Field.

Xavier (26-10) will host Dubuque Hempstead (20-18) in the substate semifinals at 7 p.m. Monday, with the winner facing Kennedy in the substate finals Wednesday at Kennedy.

The Saints entered Friday night's game with a 25-10 record and No.9 spot in the Class 4A rankings. The Rams arrived with a 16-23 mark and a big challenge, but it was a nailbiter all the way.

The game was tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning with a possible upset brewing.

"We did not get a break for the first five innings," Xavier Coach Dave Schemmel said. "We hit the ball off the pitcher's leg and it goes right to the first baseman. We hit line drives right at people. All those little things."

The Saints got another bad break in the top of the fifth inning when the home-plate umpire made a mistake. He admitted it, but it didn't do the Saints any good.

Dubuque Senior trailed 1-0 at that point, but the Rams had a runner on second base with two outs. Connor Grant struck out swinging and the umpire raised his right fist and signalled "out," but the pitch was low and Grant took off for first base, not knowing if Xavier catcher Colby Brecht had caught the ball cleanly or not.

Brecht couldn't see the umpire's signal and didn't hear the ump say anything, so he threw the ball to first base, not knowing if the play was over or not. Unfortunately for the Saints, Brecht overshot first baseman Mack Mattke and the runner scored from second base to tie the game at 1-1.

Schemmel argued with the home-plate umpire, because the umpire clearly signalled that the batter was out.

"He said he signalled the wrong thing, but said the right thing," Schemmel related. "Our dugout heard 'out,' so I don't want to comment any more than that."

Brecht wasn't sure what to do. He didn't see the umpire's signal, because the umpire was behind him, and he didn't hear the umpire make a call, either safe or out.

"No, I didn't hear anything," Brecht said. "I thought I caught it, and then I heard everybody cheering. I saw him (Grant) take off running, so I thought I'd throw it. It sailed on me."

Xavier pitcher Ean McNeal was working on a one-hit shutout at the time of the mishap.

"After that overthrow, my body just got drained for a second," he said. "I was a little scared, seeing that."

McNeal pulled himself together and got the next batter on a weak popup.

The Saints finally caught a break in the bottom of the sixth inning with the game tied, 1-1. They had runners at first and second with two outs when freshman Bryce Grimm, playing only his second varsity game for Xavier all season, hit a weak grounder toward the second baseman for the apparent third out.

Kevin Hosch, the pinch-runner at first base, distracted Dubuque Senior second baseman David Janes as he ran by and Janes let the ball get through him for an error. Corbin Woods scored from second base to give the Saints a 2-1 lead, but they didn't stop there.

McNeal socked an RBI double to left-center, making it 3-1. Another run scored on a wild pitch, making it 4-1, then Eric Zenisek beat out an infield single to make it 5-1.

McNeal allowed two hits in the sixth inning and two more hits in the seventh, but he stranded all those runners. He finished with a five-hitter and surrendered one unearned run in a strong performance.

Xavier and Dubuque Hempstead split a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader this season. They'll meet Monday night to see who gets to face Kennedy in the substate finals on Wednesday.

DUBUQUE SENIOR (1)
Grant, p, 4 0 0 0, Janes, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Jantsch, rf, 3 0 0 0, Merritt, 3b, 3 0 1 0, Blake, pr, 0 0 0 0, Jones, ss, 3 0 1 0, Hansen, dh, 3 0 0 0, Sabers, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Kremer, lf, 3 0 1 0, Clemens, cf, 2 0 0 0, Powers, ph, 1 0 0 0, Capesius, c, 2 0 2 0, Blake, cr, 0 1 0 0, Moore, cr, 0 0 0 0.
Totals 27 1 5 0.

XAVIER (5)
Helms, ss, 3 1 1 0, Woods, 3b, 1 1 0 0, Even, 2b, 3 0 1 0, Mattke, 1b, 2 0 1 0, Sodawasser, pr, 0 0 0 0, Hosch, pr, 0 1 0 0, Ries, cf, 3 0 0 0, Grimm, lf, 3 1 0 0, McNeal, p, 3 1 1 1, Zenisek, rf, 3 0 1 1, Brecht, c, 3 0 0 0. Totals 24 5 5 2.

Dubuque Senior   000 001 0 - 1 5 3
Xavier                 100 004 x - 5 5 3

Grant and Capesius. McNeal and Brecht. W - McNeal. L - Grant. 2B - Kremer, Mattke, McNeal. SB - Blake, Helms, Woods, Zenisek.

Xavier trimmed by Davenport Assumption

DAVENPORT - Davenport Assumption scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday and nipped Xavier, 4-3, in a non-conference baseball game.

The Saints (25-10) managed only five hits. Nate Even and Colby Brecht had two hits apiece.

Xavier hosts Dubuque Senior Friday night at 7 in the Class 4A substate quarterfinals.