Hound boys end year with regional loss

CEDAR RAPIDS — Postseason baseball is about converting your opportunities, and not giving the opponent opportunities.

Fort Madison did some giving, and Xavier converted in a 12-2 win Saturday in a Class 3A Substate 6 quarterfinal at Ken Charipar Field.

Xavier (18-16) advanced to play host to Clear Creek Amana (21-12) in Monday’s semifinal.

The Saints scored in every inning against the Bloodhounds (7-22).

“In the postseason, the big thing is getting a number early and put some pressure on the other team,” Xavier coach Dan Halter said. “We were able to keep them off the bases early as well. All the little stuff can matter, especially this time of year.”

Xavier had 12 hits, but Fort Madison committed three errors and walked two.

“We knew they could hit,” Fort Madison coach Albert Schinstock said. “We can’t give up free passes and make mistakes and expect to compete, let alone win.”

It started right away for the Saints. Xavier’s Jack Casey led off with a walk, stole second, then scored on Beau Morio’s one-out home run down the left-field line.

The Saints then scored five runs in the second inning, the last two of those runs coming with two outs.

All three of Xavier’s third-inning runs also came with two outs, as did both of the Saints’ runs in the fourth inning.

“I just told the boys my favorite, favorite inning today was that third inning we had two outs and nobody on and no runs,” Halter said. “And then we get (three) runs. And that's kind of how it has to go this time of year. You get one bloop and get one ball to the warning track, and then you get a couple line drives. The big thing is just not everybody trying to do it all at once, just string it together and get baserunners and get traffic.”

“I thought we would compete a little better than we did,” Schinstock said. “They did a really good job of getting little things, a grounder down the third-base line or something like that, to fall in. Then we would hit a ball somewhere and they would make a nice play on it. That’s kind of the way it’s been this season for us.”

Xavier starting pitcher Tate Proskovec didn’t allow a hit until Stefan Berlett’s infield single to open the third inning. Berlett went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a groundout, then scored on Reece Huey’s groundout for the Bloodhounds’ first run.

Fort Madison’s other run came in the fifth inning, when Huey scored on Tateum Schelich’s single. The Bloodhounds had a chance to extend the game, but Owen Huffman grounded into a double play to end the inning and end the game on the 10-run rule.

Fort Madison had five hits, all singles.

Proskovec allowed just two hits over four innings.

“He was very efficient today with his pitch count,” Halter said. “Twelve pitches in the first inning, 12 pitches in the second inning. He just kept throwing strikes.”

The Bloodhounds lose five seniors, all of whom started in Saturday’s game.

“I told the younger guys, just keep working hard,” Schinstock said. “Work hard, and good things will happen, and we can turn things around.”