SPRING HILL – Dramatic finishes have become a theme when Spring Hill and Richmond meet on the baseball diamond and Shawn Schoenberg was in the middle of it, again.
The Spring Hill cleanup hitter's walk-off two-run home run over the left-field fence with two outs in the ninth inning clinched a 4-3 Stearns County League win for the Chargers Sunday.
"Every time we play (Richmond) it's tough," Schoenberg said. "They have good pitching, so we're usually not going to score many runs when we play them."
Schoenberg finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs the day after he had three hits and three RBI with a solo home run in a win over Kimball on Saturday.
It was Schoenberg who scored from third base on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to clinch an opening-round win over Richmond in last year's region playoffs.
The Royals beat the Chargers in walk-off fashion in the 2012 regional.
"Every time we play those guys, we know it's going to be a dandy," Richmond manager Kirby Hemmesch said. "I actually told (Spring Hill catcher) Nathan Terres, 'imagine that, a one-run game between Richmond and Spring Hill.'
"The 27th out is the biggest out against Spring Hill and we didn't get it today."
Adam Backes went 2-for-3 and Cole Schmitz had two hits and two RBI for the Royals.
The way Royals starter Andy Bauer cruised through the first four innings with a 3-0 lead, it seemed the Chargers might not be able to solve the Richmond ace.
Richmond grabbed one run in the first inning on a Cole Schmitz single that drove in Dusty Adams and two sacrifice flies scored two more runs in the third inning.
The Royals had three hits at that point, but Spring Hill starter Louie Opatz struggled early. Opatz issued three walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch that contributed to Richmond's lead.
He hit the 40-pitch mark in the first inning and each batter he faced had at least a three-ball count.
"We made some good defensive plays and threw some guys out at home," Spring Hill co-manager Randy Schoenberg said. "It wasn't Louie's best performance, but we survived it."
But Opatz settled down and the Chargers finally cracked Bauer.
Kyle Bertram reached base by error to lead off the bottom of the fifth and Austin Schoenberg singled two batters later.
Jamie Terres doubled to center field to bring in Bertram and Austin Schoenberg scored on a Shawn Schoenberg sacrifice fly.
Bauer pitched seven innings, allowing two unearned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and four walks.
"Every time we throw Bauer out there, we know what we're going to get," Hemmesch said. "He gave us seven good innings."
Opatz retired the final eight batters he faced before he left the game in the eighth inning with a 2-0 count on Richmond's lead-off man.
Austin Schoenberg pitched the eighth and ninth innings without allowing a hit to get the victory.
Opatz's line mirrored Bauer's: seven innings pitched with three runs allowed on six hits, five strikeouts and four walks.
Eric Terres led off the bottom of the ninth by fouling out to Royals reliever Luke Jokela and Austin Schoenberg followed that with a popout to first base.
Jamie Terres lifted a fly ball to left field, which appeared to be a routine play to end the game, but the ball popped out of left fielder Jake Guggenberger's glove with the shortstop and center fielder converging on the play.
"I didn't think I was going to get a chance, but in baseball when someone makes an error, it always comes back and hurts them," Shawn Schoenberg said. "You have to feel for the kid after a play like that."
Shawn Schoenberg belted Jokela's 1-2 delivery into the pine trees beyond the left field fence to end the game and improve Spring Hill's Stearns County record to 4-1 and 6-1 overall.
Said Shawn Schoenberg: "The pitch was up and in and (Jokela) tried to get inside, but he left it over the plate so it was an easy pitch to hit in the air."
(St. Cloud Times)
