By John Miller
Mason Dickemann didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled through.
The Missouri State signee pitched six innings, surrendering one run and striking out nine, as Springfield Catholic held off a late Bolivar rally to win 7-4 on Tuesday evening at Springfield Catholic High School.
With Dickemann on the mound, Bolivar had 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They came up with just one hit.
“He really wasn’t as sharp as he usually is,” Catholic coach Jason Daugherty said. “I mean, really, he wasn’t even close. He had a couple innings in there where he couldn’t find it, and that’s not like him. He’s normally a lot sharper than that. The thing is he competed, he battled through. He was in trouble several times and just worked through it, battled through it, and got out of it.”
Bolivar had two on and none out in the second. Didn’t score. They had two on and one out in the fourth. Didn’t score. Two on and one out in the sixth. Didn’t score. The lone run the Liberators scored when Dickemann was on the mound came on a wild pitch in the fifth inning.
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“I came out there and started getting tired earlier than usual,” Dickemann said afterwards. “I just had confidence in myself and confidence in my team. I knew they would be there to back me up, even if I get into a tight situation. I just fought my way out of it.”
Catholic took the lead in the second inning thanks to an RBI double by Zach Cole and RBI single by Will Duff. Cole finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two doubles. The Irish added a run in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Tristan Gumucio before Duff blew it open in the fifth. The sophomore blasted a three-run bomb over the fence in left, putting the Irish ahead 6-1.
“That was pretty big,” Dickemann said of Duff’s homer. “It got us motivated to keep going.”
Catholic tacked on another run in the sixth off Duff’s sacrifice fly, his fifth RBI of the game.
Bolivar made a comeback in the seventh. Duff relieved Dickemann to close the door, but he struggled with his command, walking two and hitting two before Brayden Tunender singled in two runs. After Britt Tucker was hit by a pitch to load the bases, putting the potential tying run at first, Daugherty went back to his bullpen and brought in junior Seth Kamykowski. Kamykowski got back-to-back strikeouts, thwarting the Liberators’ late rally.
“He’s been really solid all year,” Daughtery said of Kamykowski. “He’s definitely a pitcher I trust in there. I know what I’m going to get from him. He did a great job and has all year.”
Tunender went 3-for-4 for Bolivar and Connor Sechler and Chase Hampton finished 2-for-4.
Bolivar 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 4 8 1
Catholic 0 0 2 1 3 1 X 7 8 2
WP-Dickemann
LP-Tucker
S-Kamykowski
Bolivar: Tunender 3, Sechler 2, Hampton 2, Vote
Catholic: Cole 2 (2 2B), Duff 2 (HR), Schoen (2B), Hutter (2B), Gumucio (2B), Dickemann
