CMB’s historic season ends with heartbreaking loss

DES MOINES — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s baseball team relished the underdog role throughout the postseason.

Playing in their first-ever state baseball tournament, the Raiders were once again the underdog against a Carroll Kuemper Catholic team which has played in five state tournaments since earning runner-up honors in 2010.

This time the favorite was victorious.

CMB rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force extra innings,.Too many mistakes in the field and not enough timely hits at the plate plagued the Raiders during a 3-2, eight-inning loss to the Knights on Monday at Principal Park.

“We left it out there. We should have come through and won that one, but that’s just how baseball is sometimes,” CMB senior Nate Bishop said. “The ball bounces this way and the ball bounces that way. We did everything we could. It just didn’t go our way.”

Bishop reached base twice in the game and got the Raiders on the board with a run in the seventh inning.

The Raiders out-hit Kuemper Catholic, 6-5, but two of CMB’s four errors led to single runs in the sixth and eighth innings.

CMB (14-12) put a runner on base in five of the first six innings but only got to second base in the third, after Bishop singled,and then went to second on a walk by seniors Spencer Gauch.

In the seventh, Bishop reached on an error and then went to second on a single by sophomore Travis Lindemoen. The Knights committed a crucial error later in the inning when catcher Ben Berg’s attempted pick off of Lindemoen at first base sailed over the Trevor Feilmeier’s head at first base.

Bishop scored on the error and then belted a two-out, RBI single to right field to tie the game.

“We have had a little bit of cardiac kids in us all season, especially in the postseason,” Bishop said. “We have always done a good job staying in the games. When we have (Stover) pitching, we know we are in for a battle. We did everything we could to stay in the game for Brady, for our coaches and for these tremendous fans who came out to watch us.”

Unfortunately, that’s all the Raiders could muster against Kuemper starter Tyler Williams and reliever Tyler Laing. Laing got the win after taking over for Williams in the seventh inning following Stover’s game-tying hit.

Stover (7-1) started for the Raiders and lost for the first time this season. He allowed two earned runs on five hits while striking out 10 and walking three.

“He kept us in it for as long as he could. We know we have a chance when he is on the mound,” CMB coach Max Seeman said. “Our offense didn’t back him up tonight. Sometimes that’s just how it goes. It’s a bummer that we couldn’t get him more runs, but you can’t fault the effort. I am really proud of my guys for not giving up.”

Kuemper’s offense was a great test for Stover. The Knights (25-11) came into the game hitting better than .320 as a team. While Stover wasn’t at his best, he was still the best pitching Kuemper has faced all season, according to Knight senior Brett Sibbel, who had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the eighth inning.

“The kid was just phenomenal,” Sibbel said. “We thought he would be tired after he got to 100 pitches, but he kept pumping them in there. The ball I hit in the eighth was right over the plate. He didn’t miss much tonight, and when he did miss he was able to just blow it past us.

“He was great though. He was the best pitcher we’ve faced all year, hands down. He was amazing.”

Stover said his arm was hurting in the first inning. The number of pitches and innings he threw in the postseason may have caught up to him. The senior’s left arm took the Raiders as far as it could.

The end result was the state baseball tournament just four years after back-to-back-back one-win seasons.

“My arm is exhausted. My arm was hurting in the first inning. It was hurting all game,” Stover said. “I didn’t have my full velocity tonight. I just tried to battle. I love these guys. I would pitch any day for my team. It just stinks that we came up a little short.”

Senior Brad Ritter had two hits and was hit by a pitch in his final high school baseball game. Lindemoen, Bishop. Stover and Brady Ross all had a hit apiece. Stover had an RBI, while Lindemoen and Bishop scored the Raiders’ two runs in the seventh inning.

Kuemper faces Pleasantville in a 2A semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The other semifinal pits No. 2 and defending champion Clear Lake against sixth-ranked Hinton at 5 p.m. Thursday.

“These guys knew last year that we could do special things. We made CMB history this year,” Seeman said. “We caught fire, Brady got hot on the mound and it was good for every one of these guys to be able get here and experience this. It’s just unfortunate that it had to end this early.”

Bishop was one of the Raider seniors who experienced a one-win season during his freshman campaign. He never thought in that year his prep baseball career would end at Principal Park.

“I can’t even put this into words,” Bishop said. “That freshmen season was awful. We rallied around each other and playing here was the culmination of hard work, determination and grit. It’s been a fun ride.”