Wither's And Civic Memorial Shut Out Waterloo

May 8, 2017

By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Civic Memorial 2, Waterloo 0

BETHALTO, IL – A pitcher’s duel took place between Civic Memorial and Waterloo on Monday afternoon with Civic Memorial coming out on top by a score of 2-0. Junior, right-handed pitcher, Geoff Withers twirled a complete game shutout to lead the Eagles of Civic Memorial (22-7).

Withers went all seven innings, scattered three hits, struck out seven and walked two in the victory. The 6-foot-5, 211-pound, right-hander, worked extremely fast, challenged hitters and filled up the strike zone throughout. Withers and the Civic Memorial defense were never truly threatened as they did not allow a Waterloo baserunner past second base for the entire game.

Waterloo’s biggest threat came in the seventh inning. Waterloo (17-6) had runners on first and second with two outs and junior Danny Tharp at the plate. Tharp lined a ball that looked like a sure single into center field until Civic Memorial shortstop, Caden Clark, came flying up the middle and with a full-extension dive snagged the line-drive for the final out of the game.

Senior, right-handed pitcher, Erik Kaiser, started and impressed in his own right for Waterloo. Kaiser, a Vanderbilt commit, struck out 10 Eagle hitters in his five innings of work behind a powerful fastball. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound, righty gave up his one and only run in the first inning despite touching 93 mph multiple times and 94 mph once. Kaiser settled in for the rest of the start around 88-91 mph but still had 93 in the tank in his fifth and final inning when he struck out the side.

The Civic Memorial offense tallied one run in the first inning and one in the sixth. In the first, Brandon Hampton, a Quincy commit, walked to lead off the game and back-to-back singles by Jaxson Helmkamp and Corey Price, a Central Missouri commit, loaded the bases with nobody out. Kaiser was able to strike out the next two batters and looked like he may be able to get out of the jam unscathed with Withers, the opposing pitcher at the plate. However, Withers battled, following off a couple of 93 mph fastballs’ before eventually drawing a walk which scored the first run of the game.

The Eagles tacked on one more run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a sacrifice fly by Caden Clark scoring Spencer Powell who had led the inning off with a single.

Ben Maurer went 2-for-3 to lead the way for the Waterloo offense.

Powell went 1-for-2 with a walk, stolen base and run scored to pace the Civic Memorial offense.

For more in-depth notes from the game - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog later.