End of an era for Bombers

CROSS PLAINS — Black Earth manager Eric Duhr was hoping his Bombers could extend their Home Talent League amateur baseball season at least one more game last Sunday for two reasons. Black Earth needed a victory over host Cross Plains to keep its slim playoffs hopes alive. But the Bombers also knew a loss would end the 31-year career of Duhr as a player and manager in the league. Logan Schultz then ruined the day for Duhr and the Bombers. Schultz, a right hander for the Businessmen, scattered eight hits and allowed only an unearned run in tossing a complete game to lead Cross Plains to a 7-1 victory in a Northern Section HTL Sunday League regular season finale. Black Earth finished the Sunday League season with a 3-9 record and in ninth place in the Northern Section. The top eight teams qualified for the playoffs. “Today was my last game after 31 years as a player and manager,” Duhr said following the game. “I didn’t tell a lot of people because I didn’t want it to be about me. I never missed a Sunday game.” Duhr recalled that his first game was a three-hit shutout he threw against Middleton, the defending Home Talent League champion, in 1994. “I started playing in Pine Bluff,” he said. “I played eight years in Pine Bluff and then 11½ in Ashton. And if you count COVID, which I do, I had 11½ years in Black Earth. I didn’t quit in 2020, so that year counts. “It’s been 31 years. I thought about it really, hard last year. It’s just time. I said I would help them out in the search unless someone on the team wanted to take it over. But it’s time.” Bombers’ leadoff hitter and left fielder Curtis Barsness said Duhr will be missed. “It’s going to be hard to see him go. It kind of threw me a curve ball,” Curtis Barsness said when Duhr told the team it was going to be his final season in the HTL.  “We might put pressure on him (to stay). He’s nice to have around. He’s a good guy. He just loves the game.”  Black Earth got off to a great start when the Bombers quickly scored in the top of the first inning. After second baseman Mitch Howard delivered a one-out single to left field, center fielder Marcus Caminiti reached on a fielders’ choice, stole second and moved to third on a throwing error. Designated hitter Bryce Barsness then singled to center field to score Caminiti to stake right-hander Bryce Hopwood and the Bombers to a 1-0 lead. But the lead was short-lived when Cross Plains plated two runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead for good. Hopwood walked Tait Manriquez and Schultz to open the inning. Following a wild pitch, which advanced both runners to third and second base, respectively, Remington Lockwood grounded out to second base to score Manriquez. Josh Stumpf followed with an RBI double to right field to score Schultz for a 2-1 lead. Cross Plains then strung together three straight singles to open the fourth inning to end Hopwood’s day. “After me pitching for 20-some years, there’s some days you don’t have it,” Duhr said. “You want to have it. It’s not a lack of effort. Some days you don’t have it, especially when you’re not a power pitcher.”  Duhr said that Hopwood, who allowed five earned runs on seven hits with two walks and a strikeout in 3-plus innings, “wasn’t getting on top of the batters today.” “Last year, he got one vote for pitcher of the year. He didn’t quite have the season this year that he did last year,” Duhr added. “But I would take my chances with Bryce Hopwood any day of the week. He’s a gamer. He never wants to come out of a game, which you’ve got to love as a coach.” Tony Caminiti, who started at catcher, took over for Hopwood and allowed a two-run double to Drew Meinholz as Cross Plains batted around and scored four runs in the fourth inning to grab a 6-1 lead. But Caminiti allowed just one run on five hits with a strikeout and one walk over the final four innings. “We’re very close. We were in it. It just didn’t go our way,” Curtis Barsness said. “Today was just one of those games. They had our number today.” First baseman Tyler Krause led Black Earth with two hits. Eric Duhr said he was impressed with Schultz’s complete game performance, that included three innings in which he needed just six pitches in each frame to retire the Bombers. “I’ve seen it a few times this year, but not with that kind of domination,” Duhr said. “Sometimes in Home Talent, since we don’t have full pitching staffs, you’ve got to gut it out. You’ve got to leave a guy out there who’s given up some runs. “To pitch that well, he didn’t look like he was slowing down in the ninth inning. I tip my cap to him.” Schultz retired the side in order in four of his final five innings and threw just 99 pitches. He struck out one and didn’t walk a batter. “It was my best game, but also our best team game,” Schultz said of the Businessmen, who finished with 14 hits, including three doubles. “I didn’t have many strikeouts (one). These guys, everything was caught, fielded, thrown. I had great support from my defense. “My fastball was moving pretty well. I was able to locate it well. I wasn’t getting much inside, but if I kept it over the plate low, they just grounded out. If I got it high, they just flew out. I tried not to put anything down the middle for them.” Duhr said Cross Plains made the plays it had to make, despite finishing with three errors. “(Schultz) was throwing strikes, and my guys were on the attack,” Duhr said. “I was proud of them attacking. We just didn’t find the holes today.” Duhr said while he plans to become just a fan of the Bombers next season, he believes the best is yet to come. “From what it sounds like on the bench, everyone’s coming back’” Duhr said. “Our perennial all-star, Bryce Barsness, has had a sciatic nerve problem that’s bugged him all season. He gutted it out.  “He tried playing center field early in the season but became our DH towards the end of the season. He’s just not the same guy right now. I’m hoping for life and everything that gets better for him.” Curtis Barsness said he was already looking forward to next season. “I’ll be back for another year. I hope Bryce will be back,” he said of his brother. “Having him in the lineup makes us better, even if he’s hurt. He can swing the bat well.”  Curtis Barsness added that the Bombers’ future looks bright. “We have some young guys. They enjoy being here. They’re good players,” Curtis Barsness said. “We have a good core group, that’s where it starts. If we have that, we can find a way to get some wins. “We just need to score more runs. With guys in scoring position, we couldn’t get that hit. It just didn’t go our way. That’s been the story of the season.” Ben Voss, who has played for the Bombers for 19 seasons, including the last 10 with Eric Duhr, hopes that it might not be the end of an era. “It was very emotional,” Voss said after Duhr announced he was going to retire following the Bombers’ 11-3 victory over Plain in Black Earth’s final home game on July 16. “I still might try to talk him out of it. He’s someone I always expect to be there. It’s understandable. He’s been in the game for a long time.  “We just didn’t have it today. We wanted to go out with a win. But it was poetic that his family won the 50-50 raffle. I’m not closing the door yet. Maybe I can get him to do one more. But he’s awesome. I love the dude.” Duhr, who was Black Earth’s manager over the past five years, admitted that playing was a lot more fun. Yet, his final team was one of his most memorable despite its lack of success. “My guys, I love every one of them to death,” Duhr said. “I tell them that after every game. They battle. On a 3-9 baseball team, to go through a whole season without having two teammates argue with each other all season, I promise you, not one time did I have two teammates argue with each other this year. “Every year we had something happen throughout the season because that’s guys being guys and competing and that happens. But not once did that happen this year, and that’s the one thing I’m proud of.”   Sunday, July 21 Cross Plains 7, Black Earth 1 BE ............ 100 000 000 – 1  8 0 XP..…...... 020 400 01x – 7 14 3 Pitchers (ip-h-er-r-so-bb) –BE: Bryce Hopwood (L: 3-7-5-5-1-2), Tony Caminiti (5-7-2-2-1-3. CP: Logan Schultz (W: 9-8-1-0-1-0). Leading hitters – BE: Tyler Krause 2x3. CP: Drew Meinholz 3x5 (2B), Garret Pertzborn 2x4 (2B), Josh Stumpf 2x4 (2B), Logan Schultz 2x4, Hunter Schram 2x4.