WATERLOO • Millstadt has had its Mon-Clair League playoff exit ticket punched by Waterloo so many times that it was almost just a matter of time before the tables were turned.
The VFW did just that on Aug. 10, turning around a late deficit to win 4-2 and knock the Millers out of the playoffs in the quarterfinal tilt at SPPS Field in Waterloo.
Trailing 2-0 with no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, and with Waterloo starter Brandon Musso cruising behind a big, sweeping curve ball, Millstadt looked to be dead and buried. But Luke Matecki reached on an infield error and Mitch Matecki singled to right-centerfield. The ball was fumbled there as well, putting the Mateckis on second and third. Zack Hawkins hit an opposite-field, two-run double to right, plating both runners to tie the score at 2-2.
Thad Hawkins squared to bunt and was hit in the hand, but the umpire ruled that he was beaned in the chest and awarded him first base. Brett Erlinger followed with a single to center that scored Zack Hawkins and Rob Beatty ripped an RBI single to score Thad Hawkins, handing the VFW the lead they needed to close out the Millers.
“I can’t even say we played well,” Waterloo manager Vern Moehrs said. “Even in the inning where they scored four runs, it started off with an error, which wasn’t a tough play. When you are playing a game this close you can’t make those kinds of errors.”
There wasn’t much lumber in the Waterloo attack, which left Musso vulnerable to just the kind of mistakes which undid the Millers in the sixth. Having turned over much of his roster due to player retirement, Moehrs looked on as many of his young hitters were baffled by the pitching of veteran Millstadt hurler Josh Hoguet.
“The inexperience showed up tonight, but I hope it was a learning experience,” Moehrs said. “We played a lot of games like that this year, where a hit here or a play there would have made all the difference in the world. I thought we had a chance because Brandon was pitching a hell of a ballgame.
“We had a good year, but it wasn’t full speed. We don’t always play the whole game with intensity and if you are going to win you have to play the whole game with intensity. You have to play every out and we didn’t do that tonight.”
The VFW got one over on Waterloo before the playoffs even started, ending a record that was three decades in the making. After 29 straight Monroe Division titles, Waterloo surrendered the crown to Millstadt, which finished in first with a record of 15-7, two games in front of the Millers.
“We have won that division on the last day of the season many times, including last year,” Moehrs said. “You go 29 years straight and win a division title, it has to come to an end sometime. The Yankees can only win so many titles.”
This summer of transition may have put an end to the division streak, but there were plenty of positives along the way. Waterloo played well at the Valmeyer Midsummer Classic and though they lost their crown, the Millers did take the division race down to the last weekend of the season.
More than anything, though, the young kids Moehrs recruited got the summer under their belts and out of the way. Conventional wisdom says that a year from now they will be better for having struggled through it.
“One of the positives was seeing so many of these younger kids developing,” Moehrs said. “Most of them are going to play in college and I think this summer has been a wake-up experience for them.”
Two of the most important players getting their first taste of Mon-Clair action were catcher Lucas Wetzler and center fielder Aron Aycock. Both were critical components at the heart of the Waterloo High School team’s march to the state tournament in the spring, where the Bulldogs claimed third place.
Wetzler will move on to Southwestern Illinois College, where he will play for Moehrs’ fiery protégé and Mon-Clair League legend Neil Fiala. Aycock will attend the University of Missouri at Columbia and try to walk on to the baseball team there.
“Lucas coming back next year will be a much improved ballplayer,” Moehrs said. “He is a very good player right now, but he will get more experience. As a first-year kid coming out of high school, he had a lot of positives.
“(Aycock) played extremely well (in the playoff game). He can really go get the ball. I don’t know what his baseball outlook is, but he has been overlooked because (NCAA) Division I teams can only carry 37 players and there will be hundreds of players out there. A lot of these colleges have tremendous club teams and the best thing he can do is play for one of those club teams. He makes contact and that is a big part. You can see him growing.”
The team’s collective inexperience was on display in the loss to Millstadt and it will be crucial that the mistakes are corrected moving forward. Now that the Mon-Clair League has gone to using composite bats, scoring is down across the board, meaning that the margin of error has shrunk.
“It used to come natural that the kids used to just do the little things you have to do out there on the diamond to win ballgames, but a lot of times now I have to do the thinking for them,” Moehrs said. “Especially now that we have the BBCOR bats, you can’t come out here and out-slug anyone anymore.
“You have to be able to hit a little bit. When you are playing close games and your pitcher is throwing a very good game, you have to give him that support.”
One thing that will surely help the Millers next summer is a return to health of many key players who were lost this summer. But there are certain players such as first baseman Craig Ohlau, who transferred to Belleville, who won’t be back.
Now it is down to Moehrs to work his offseason magic and burn up the phone lines to bring new faces in and help Waterloo back to the summit of the summer circuit.
“Ohlau had a situation where he was coaching at Edwardsville High School and he was going to miss a lot of games,” Moehrs said. “If we have people who aren’t going to be here, you are constantly changing your lineup, constantly changing people. So we had a mutual agreement.
“Then we lost (catcher Devon) Myers with a knee problem, lost (pitcher) Otto (Roberts) with a shoulder problem, lost (pitcher Mark) Mueller with the arm trouble. I had to keep replacing these guys and mix and match. That’s pretty tough to do. (Captain) Corey (Blackwell) had the best ERA in our division and pitched some tremendous ballgames, just like Musso. But they get tired of pitching and not getting any runs.”
