Kaiser and No. 19 Waterloo stifle Colllinsville

April 16, 2016

By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

No. 19 Waterloo 2, Collinsville 0

WATERLOO, IL - The No. 19 Waterloo Bulldogs hosted the Kahok’s of Collinsville on Friday afternoon. Waterloo (10-3) sent one of the top junior arms in the state to the hill in Vanderbilt commit Erik Kaiser. Collinsville (10-9) countered with sophomore right-hander Hayden Juenger.

Kaiser, the No. 9 ranked junior in the state, was lights out for Waterloo. He showcased swing and miss stuff from the get go and finished with a final tally of 10 strikeouts. He mixed his fastball and big-bending breaking ball for strikes in his six innings of work. Kaiser sat 85-89 mph, for much of the game and reached back for more velocity with two strikes. As the game progressed, Kaiser settled in and his best inning may have been his last. In the sixth, he struck out two, didn’t allow a hit and his fastball sat 88-90 mph.

On the other side of the ball, sophomore right-hander Juenger, was equally as impressive for the Kahok’s. Juenger kept the Bulldogs offense off-balance, throwing all three of his pitches in any count. Juenger pounded the zone, worked efficiently and showed poise well beyond his years. In the first inning, Juenger induced multiple pop-ups not caught by his defense, but he never flinched or showed emotion. Juenger continued to go about his business and control what he could control, which was attacking hitters and getting early weak contact. Juenger’s fastball sat 81-84 mph, touching 85 once in his six innings of work.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when center fielder Jordan McFarland deposited the first pitch of the inning over the left-center field wall, giving Waterloo a 1-0 lead. The bulldogs would go on and pick up another run in the inning, as Hayden Bender grounded out to third, scoring Tyler McAlister from third base. That was the extent of the scoring for the game as Ben Maurer came out of the pen, shutting down the Kahok offense in the top of the seventh, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 victory.

The Kahok’s best chance to score came in the top of the fourth inning with the game scoreless. With base-runners on first and third and two outs, Collinsville attempted to steal a run. The runner on first took off for second as Kaiser came set. Kaiser alertly stepped off the rubber, looked to second with thoughts of throwing it and at that moment the runner from third took off for home. Kaiser was able to hold onto the ball, turn and throw a strike to the catcher who easily tagged out the runner attempting to score.

Statistical Highlights

+ RHP Erik Kaiser (Waterloo) - 6IP, 0R, 1H, 2BB, 10K
+ RHP Ben Maurer (Waterloo) - 1IP, 0R, 0H, 2K
+ RHP Hayden Juenger (Collinsville) - 6IP, 1ER, 4H, BB, 2K
+ CF Jordan McFarland (Waterloo) - 1-for-3, HR
+ 1B Tyler McAlister (Waterloo) - 1-for-3, R