Osage tops Forest City 9-2 to go to 2A-3 Baseball Championship

(ABC 6 News) — Forest City baseball fans of all ages hoped home-field advantage would propel the Indians to victory in their Class 2A-3 Semifinal against Osage on Saturday.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Indians got the early 1-0 lead when senior Carter Bruckhoff laced one into center field off Osage pitcher Max Gust. The Green Devils countered in the top of the second inning in an unconventional way. The umpire called a balk on Forest City pitcher Truman Knudtson, allowing Osage’s Luke Scharper to score from third base.

But the 1-1 score would hold for a few innings until the top of the fifth when a wild pitch from Knudtson allowed Jake Krebsbach to steal home. Osage now up 2-1, the Green Devils added another run via fielder’s choice before the offense really got going late in the same inning.

Eventually, Osage would comfortably leave Forest City behind, winning 9-2 to advance to the substate final.

“It feels awesome honestly,” Green Devils senior Tyler Oberfell said postgame. “I played in the district final my freshman year and I didn’t understand how big of a game it was until
now, my senior year where it’s like, ‘Oh, this is a big game, you win it you move on.’ And it feels awesome, honestly, it feels great to have a good game, [got] Max on the mound, it’s awesome.”

“They hit the ball well,” Oberfell continued. “I love that, we’ve all been hitting the ball well this year and it’s awesome to see that they keep — they don’t shy away from the big moment. A lot of our batters we walked tonight, we get the bases loaded then the early innings we’d just leave them loaded. But now, we get back into the deep part of the order and they’re hitting the ball, finding gaps and it’s good to see.”

Osage will face Dike-New Hartford for the 2A-3 Baseball Championship in Mason City on Tuesday, July 12.