Gehlen treats record crowd to upset

Gehlen second baseman Taylor Smith takes a throw from catcher TJ Britton and tags out Newman's Tyler Moorehead during the second inning of the Jays' 3-2 upset win over the Knights at Saturday's opening-round game of the Class 1A state baseball tournament. (Sentinel photo by Ty Capron) [Click to enlarge]

A record number of fans showed up Saturday at Principal Park in Des Moines to watch No. 1-ranked Mason City Newman defeat upstart Gehlen Catholic in the opening game of the Class 1A state baseball tournament. Or so they thought. Instead, those on hand were treated to a monumental upset as the eighth-seeded Jays stunned the top-seeded Knights 3-2.

Alex Loutsch was on the mound for Gehlen against a Newman lineup with seven starters batting above .300 and the junior left-hander made the mighty look meek, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Loutsch has given up one earned run on six hits while striking out 23 in three postseason starts.

"You never know what to expect in your first game at state," said Loutsch. "But the whole tournament I've been able to hit my spots and get my curveball in there. The first couple games, I had to get used to the ball because we're using the new Spalding balls now, but I've started to really find my groove."

Loutsch had six walks in each of his first two postseason starts, but gave up just three free passes Saturday - taking one of the board with a pickoff of Newman's Tyler Moorehead in the fourth inning.

"We felt going in that if Alex was on top of his game, we would give them a good ballgame," said Gehlen coach Marty Kurth. "We knew it was probably going to be a low-scoring ballgame and Alex did a super job again. He played his heart out."

The Jays scraped together just five hits off Newman starter John Bothwell, but made up for the lack of offense with timely hits and a handful of key plays on defense.

The first big defensive play of the game came in the bottom of the first inning as the Jays doubled Newman's Mike Reuter off first on a Chris Bohl fly out to left field.

Gehlen came back in the top of the second to take a 1-0 lead as Mitch Kurth hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a TJ Britton sacrifice and scored on BJ Sitzmann's single.

Newman threatened again in the second with two outs as Moorehead reached on the first of three Gehlen errors, but was thrown out by catcher Britton trying to steal second.

The defense again fed the offense as the Jays came back in their next at-bat with a run to lead 2-0. Tyler Sitzmann started the top of the third with a walk, reached second on an error by Bothwell and was sacrificed to third by Taylor Smith. Eric Rohe then delivered his only hit of the game to score Sitzmann. Gehlen suffered a scary moment following the run as Britton took a Bothwell pitch off the side of the helmet, but the senior shook it off and was back behind the plate on defense.

Newman finally broke up the Loutsch shut out bid in the bottom of the third as Brad Dummett walked with two outs and scored on a Bohl single, trimming Gehlen's lead to 2-1.

Bothwell set the first two Jays down in order in the top of the fourth, but Tyler Sitzmann tagged a two-out triple and later scored what would be the deciding run on a passed ball to give Gehlen a 3-1 lead.

The Jays threatened again in the fifth as Kurth hit a two-out double and moved to third on a Bothwell balk, but were unable to extend the lead and Newman nearly made it hurt in the bottom of the sixth. Reuter reached on an error to start the bottom of the sixth for the Knights and - after an Adams one-out walk - scored as teammate Mark Weber reached on Gehlen's third error of the game - a fly ball off the glove of Sitzmann in left. Center fielder Rohe was charging on the ball also and was there to make the toss to shortstop Kurth, who fired home to catch Adams trying to score the tying run from first.

"There were a number of plays that were huge in the game," said Coach Kurth. "But that second runner that Mitch threw out at the plate ... all the sudden the ball got there to beat him. That was either a tie game or we're up by one and we're still up by one."

Loutsch then struck out Bothwell to end Newman's rally. The Knights' Jason Urdahl managed a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh, but Loutsch struck out Ethan Vanous and got Dummett to ground out to end the game.

"It was a mix between really great defense and the right pitches at the right time," said Loutsch. "Our defense was really big. We made three huge plays."

Kurth was 2 for 2 at the plate for the Jays, while Tyler Sitzmann was 1 for 1 with two runs scored. Rohe was 1 for 4 with an RBI and BJ Sitzmann was 1 for 3 with an RBI.

Gehlen is now 8-1 at the state tournament under Kurth and 18-14 on the season with the win. Newman finished at 35-5 with the loss. Kurth said it was a great day for his players and the Gehlen program, but the Jays aren't done yet.

"We knew going in that we had a tough task ahead of us, but we were looking at a three-game season. Newman was just first on the list. We have a couple more games we'd like to win," said Kurth. "We're still looking ahead. They've worked hard and we still can't be satisfied."

Loutsch should get the call again on four days rest when Gehlen takes on third-ranked Sentral, Fenton in the semifinals Thursday at noon. Sentral has an offense to match Newman's and the tournament's best record at 41-3, but that won't phase Loutsch and the Jays at this point.

"We beat the No. 1 team in the state," said Loutsch. "We feel pretty excellent about our chances against anyone right now."