A week or so ago, my son Ethan’s Summer league baseball team was sitting around in the dugout before a game, when I heard the subject change to talk about a tremendous high school baseball game that took place at DHS in May of 2010.
It was a game between Dekalb & Carroll with a share of the NHC conference championship on the line.
This years Summer league team has a number of players who participated in that game. Jeremy Shelmedine, Steve Remesnik, Gavin Downs, and Zach Vanlandingham from Carroll. While ex-Baron players are Ethan Prebynski, Zach Pfafman, Casey Weaver, & Logan Sparkman.
The thing about that game that people don’t realize is, Dekalb played Prairie Hts. in a seven inning makeup game before the Carroll game on a Wednesday evening “school night.”
Skyler Rottger started on the hill for the Barons, while Remesnik toed the bump for the Chargers.
Both pitchers would be on their games from the get-go. Rottger had his only trouble of the night in the second inning when Carroll sent 6 men to the plate, and scored a lone tally. You didn’t know it at the time, but that would be the only run the Chargers would score in the game.
Skyler would end up throwing 10 innings on the night, would not walk a batter, gave up only 4 hits, and amazingly, only faced 35 batters in those 10 innings of work.
Remesnik was almost as sharp. The only run he gave in his 6 plus innings of work was when junior second basemen Ethan Prebynski blasted a home run deep over the wall in left leading off the fifth inning. Besides that HR, Ethan also had 10 assists from his second base position.
Senior Curtis Wise came on in relief for Carroll in the seventh inning, and he would go the rest of the way, which was into the 13th inning.
After those 10 innings of work, junior Zach Vance came in for Dekalb, and he would go the final 3 innings. he also did not walk a batter. 13 innings of work by Baron hurlers, and NO free passes!
You could honestly feel the tension in the air as that fateful 13th inning rolled around. In the top of the inning, with 2 outs and a runner on second, a Carroll batter drove a pitch to deep left field. Junior outfielder Chris Harpenau made a fantastic running catch to end the inning, and keep the game tied.
In the bottom of the frame, Casey Weaver led off with his second hit, a single to left. Catcher Shea Parrish laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt that got Casey to second. Then, in a way you would never expect, junior Jarrod Forrest hit a soft “tweener” that eluded the first baseman, the second baseman, and even the right fielder who was frantically charging on the play. Weaver raced home from second, and the Barons won 2-1, and shared the NHC regular season crown.
It was certainly a game for the ages, but the epilog is this. It would be Carroll’s last defeat of the season. They would go on to win back to back state championships. Unfortunately for Dekalb, as good as they were during those few seasons, Carroll was always standing in the way come tournament time.