Elkhorn slams Skutt for Class B title

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BY KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

Three innings into the second game, Elkhorn’s offense came alive and stomped through eight Omaha Skutt pitchers en route to a 15-2 six-inning victory for the Class B state baseball title Saturday at Haymarket Park.

Behind the sterling pitching of Austin Cole in the first game, Skutt beat last year’s Class A champions 3-0 and forced the second game for the state title.

“We knew it would probably be a marathon and we weren’t going to get down about losing that first game,” said Elkhorn second baseman Weston Fox.

 Fox led the Elkhorn demolition crew with two doubles, had four hits, four runs batted in and three runs scored in the second game.

Jake Ritzdorf had three hits, two RBI and reached base five times for the Antlers.

“We won five games in the tournament and Elkhorn won five games in the tournament, but they won the one that mattered,” said Skutt coach Keith Engelkamp.

“We played 7 p.m. games the last four nights and we had to play seven games to their five. We were tired and just didn’t have anything but tired arms left.”

Skutt lost in the first round Monday and won its next five games in the double-elimination tournament. Elkhorn won its first three games and hadn’t had to play since Wednesday.

“Austin (Cole) pitched a great game in the opener but in the second game, you can’t just throw the ball in there against a good-hitting team like Elkhorn,” Engelkamp said.

Elkhorn counted on hits from eight different batters, and a ninth, Jake Long, slammed a ball off the glove of Skutt right fielder Eric Pivovar with the bases loaded in the fifth inning.

“We didn’t ride the emotional roller coaster of losing the first game because Cole was throwing in the 88-, 89-mph range, and we all know that 75 to 80 percent of the game is on the bump (pitching),” said Elkhorn coach Jerry Frerichs. “We had great pitching in the second game and we had pretty good pitching in the first game.”

Fox said the Antlers were  confident in winning back-to-back state titles.

“We had a good core of seniors back from last year and we knew we’d win again this year,” said Fox. Elkhorn won the Class A title last year and was moved to Class B when the class was recreated for the first time since 1981. 

“We had 12 kids who never touched the field in the tournament last year, but we thought we had a good chance again this year,” said Frerichs, whose team finished 21-10.

 “Some people were disappointed we were in Class B, but it might have been a good thing we were in Class B. I think we showed we could play with the Class A teams, though.”

Elkhorn lost seven games to Class A teams this year.

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.