TIPTON — Getting past the rst round of district play has eluded Tipton for many years. Often times running into Camanche, Wilton or top RVC teams seems to derail lengthy postseason runs. This year however was di erent. The optimism of a deep postseason run ran high for THS with the absence of top-ranked Wilton or perennial power Cascade in the bracket. Not to mention that the Tigers swept their opening-round foe Iowa City Regina, earlier this season. It was not meant to be, however.
The Regals broke open a close ball game in the sixth inning, scoring four runs to take a 10-5 lead, after the Tigers had battled back to make it a one-run game, on their way to a 12-7 win. The Tigers end the season 12-17 in 29 games. The Regals won their 10th game and improved to 10-21. The Regals will face West Branch (17-7) at Mid-Prairie in a district semi nal Tuesday, July 16. The winner of that game faces the winner of Mid-Prairie (17-11) and West Liberty (11- 14) in the District Final game on Saturday in Wellman.
Iowa City Regina retired the first seven Tipton batters in the game. Regal starter Caden Smith allowed only to balls out of the in eld. Regina scored the game’s rst runs in the top of the third. There, Regina scored four runs after eight batters came to the plate for a 4-0 lead. Tipton scored their rst run of the game in the bottom of the inning to set the score at 4-1. Regina sent seven batters to the plate in the top of the fourth inning and scored two more runs to extend their lead to 6-1. Again, the Tigers responded, the Tigers got closer by pushing four runs across after sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning to trim the Regal lead to 6-5 after four innings. That score held until the top of the sixth inning. There, Regina scored four runs after batting around to take a 10-5 lead after six. The Regals added two more runs in the top of the seventh inning to take their biggest lead of the game, seven runs, putting the score at 12-5. The Tigers tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning. Tipton would push two runs across the plate but could get no closer than the game’s nal score of 12-7.
Luke Becker took the loss after working four innings. He gave up six runs, ve earned, on seven hits. He did not strike out a batter and walked four. Cole Syring pitched 2 2/3 inning in relief and gave up six runs, ve earned on six hits. He did strike out a batter and walked two. Trent Pelzer pitched 1/3 inning in relief and struck out one batter.
Caden Smith pitched a complete game over seven innings. He gave up seven earned runs. He walked six Tigers and struck out four.
Tipton had seven hits in the game with two players collecting multi-hit games. Cole Syring led THS in batting, going 3-for-4 with two RBI’s. Connor Hermiston was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Luke Becker and Nile Schuett each had hits. Caden Schmidt, Becker, and Dylan Mente each had RBI’s in the game. Schmidt drew two walks in the game and Kael Jauron, Trent Pelzer, Becker and Mente all reached base via a walk in the game.
Iowa City Regina had 13 hits in the game. The Regals had four players with multi-hit games led by Scotty Arendt who was 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored. Caden Smith, Chase Becker, and De- clan McCoy each had two hits. The Regals 1-4 hitters were a combined 10-for-16 with eight RBI’s, three walks and nine runs scored.
The Tigers will say goodbye to three seniors. Graduating o this year's team are seniors Luke Becker, Dylan Mente, and Jacob Tischuk. Becker was a super-sub/utility/pitcher this season for THS. Going into the postseason, he made 11 starts and had an 8-2 record in 54 1/3 innings pitched. He had an earned run average of 1.93 with 41 strikeouts. Those numbers are the best for a Tipton pitcher in quite some time. Becker also excelled at the plate and was the second leading batter for THS this year. He was second on the team in hits (33) and batting average (.340). He had an on-base percentage of .379 and was second on the team in RBI’s with 14.
Mente will be remembered as a ne catcher and leadoff batter for Tipton that brought toughness to the Tiger teams he was on. Mente led Tipton in stolen bases, stealing 21- for-24 attempts. He was the third leading batter with a .287 average with 25 hits, and eight RBI’s. Mente had a fielding percentage of .933 and threw out seven runners trying to steal on him.
Tischuk came back out for baseball in 2019 after sitting out in 2018. Tischuk batted clean up for the Tigers most of the year and batted .267 with 20 hits and 13 RBI’s. He also stole six bases. Tischuk also pitched and made two starts and appeared in six games. He pitched in 11 innings and had an ERA of 7.64.
The Tigers will return two of their top-5 batters this season led by 2019 leading hitter junior Trent Pelzer. Pelzer batted .434 with 36 hits and 17 stolen bases. Junior Connor Hermiston also returns after batting .301. The Tigers will be loaded in the pitching department next year, returning 11 pitchers.
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