Tigers season ends at districts

 TREYNOR — The Red Oak baseball season ended Saturday night in Treynor when they lost 7-5 in the 2A district quarterfinals to the Shenandoah Mustangs.

Shenandoah scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the lead from Red Oak, who had been ahead up to that point, and was able to hold on and get the win.

“They just started putting some hits together,” Red Oak baseball coach Darrell Berry said. “They did a good job, you got to take your hat off to them. They hit the ball when they needed to.”

The Tigers struck first in the opening inning with two runs to take a 2-0 lead.

Starting pitcher Carlos Guerra led off the game with a double.

Red Oak soon had the bases loaded with one out after Andrew Palmquist got on base with a single, while Dean Smith walked.

Murphy Porter helped score the first run when he had a base hit, sending Guerra across home plate.

Connor Johnson followed up with a RBI double. 

“It definitely helped our defense a lot,” Berry said on scoring first. “As far as our pitching goes, Carlos did a great job for us, held them scoreless for quite a while.”

The Mustangs got a runner on base in the first, but left him stranded.

Red Oak tacked on two more runs in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. 

Jesse Taylor and Carlos Guerra were both able to get on base. 

With two outs, Palmquist hit a base hit, scoring both Taylor and Guerra.

Palmquist was the leading hitter in the game for Red Oak as he went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, a run scored and three RBIs.

Shenandoah got on the board in the second inning with a RBI base hit by Kyle Owens. 

The Mustangs trailed 4-1 through two innings.

Shenandoah wasn’t done though as they scored two more runs in the bottom of the third to make it 4-3, thanks to a two-RBI single by Issaih Reed.

Red Oak added cushion to the lead in the top of the fourth when Travis Schon scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Hayden Berry. 

The Mustangs responded with another run in the bottom half of the inning as the score was 5-4 in favor of the Tigers. “They had a lot of hits that just found their way through the infield,” Berry said. “They had some balls that just dropped in the outfield. Again, take your hats off because they hit the ball where they needed to.”

Shenandoah tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with two outs in the inning on a RBI-single by Chase Hiser, scoring Bridger Nebel.

RBI-singles by Jordan Miller and Jackson Baker gave Shenandoah the lead.

Baker, who started the game as pitcher for Shenandoah, allowed two Red Oak base runners for the remainder of the game.

Offensively, Guerra and Johnson went 2-for-3 at the plate. Taylor was 1-for-3, while Porter went 1-for-4.

Red Oak relied on pitching from Guerra and Taylor. Guerra pitched into the third inning, when Taylor took over. 

However, when Taylor had trouble in the fifth, Guerra was re-inserted into the game as pitcher.

“Most teams won’t go back to the same pitcher they started with, but we were in a position where we had a lot of arms that were hurting and injuries that we couldn’t do that,” Berry said. “So we were kind of stuck.”

Both Taylor and Guerra will be the likely pitchers Red Oak turns to next season.

“We’ve got some good pitchers coming up in the ranks, but Jesse and Carlos are going to have a lot of leadership that they’re going to be showing a lot of our kids. Jesse and Carlos will definitely be our one and two next year, without a doubt,” Berry said.

Red Oak will be losing five seniors from this season’s team, including Hayden Berry, Travis Schon, Nathan Guffey, Palmquist and Eddie Perez.

“It’s nice to be able to come to the field every single day and be relaxed. The last two-to-two-and-a-half weeks, that’s what kind of atmosphere our seniors have given to us,” Berry said. “It’s almost to where these kids come to have fun, but they also come to take it serious at the same time. At the beginning of the year, we didn’t come necessarily to have fun, it was always serious, serious, serious and that’s what made it so enjoyable the last two-to-two-and-a-half weeks.”

Red Oak will have no shortage of players returning next season. In addition to Guerra and Taylor, the Tigers will also likely return Porter, Colin Bruce, Johnson, Ryan Dyson, Dylin Keat and Dean Smith, who stepped in to fill a void in the outfield when Guffey went down with a knee injury during the Clarinda game last month.

“Dean Smith did a great job stepping in. It was great to see him get that valuable playing time to get him ready for next year. Dean did a great job for filling in,” Berry said.

Denison-Schleswig 15, Red Oak 5

The Tigers closed out the regular season with a loss to Denison-Schleswig Thursday morning at Legion Park. The game was a make-up of a doubleheader from June 26.

The Monarchs jumped out to a lead and stayed ahead for the remainder of the seven-inning game.

Guerra led the way by going 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs.

Palmquist also went 2-for-4 with a run scored, as did Bruce.

Red Oak 16, 

Clarinda Academy 0

The Tigers picked up their lone win of the week last Wednesday evening when they won in three innings against Clarinda Academy.

Red Oak scored seven runs in the first inning, three in the second and six more in the third to get the win via the mercy rule.

The win snapped a 17-game losing skid that lasted more than a month. Red Oak’s last win was May 31 against Essex.

Andrew Palmquist led the way by going 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles, two runs scored and two runs batted in.

Carlos Guerra was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and three RBIs.

Dean Smith was the other Red Oak player with multiple hits in the game as he went 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored.

Hayden Berry, Johnson and Jesse each had a hit and scored runs for Red Oak.

Bruce, Porter, Dylin Keat and Ryan Dyson also contributed to the scoring effort.

Berry won the game on the mound for Red Oak as he pitched three innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Kuemper Catholic 11, Red Oak 1

Red Oak played earlier in the day, last Wednesday, making up a rain-out against Kuemper Catholic at home.

Kuemper Catholic scored five runs in the sixth inning to eventually get the win via the 10-run rule.

Smith scored the lone run for the Tigers on a RBI base hit from Bruce. Smith was 1-for-3, while Bruce went 1-for-2.

Schon was 1-for-2, while Guerra and Palmquist went 1-for-3.

St. Albert 13, Red Oak 1

What started last Monday in Red Oak ended the next day in Council Bluffs.

Red Oak trailed St. Albert during the fourth inning last Monday when thunderstorms moved into the area, suspending the game for the evening.

Because of the wet field at Legion Park, the remainder of the game was played in Council Bluffs last Tuesday afternoon.