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Coming up short, again

Schulenburgs Fikac handcuffs Rosebuds in SCTAL semifinal

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  • Wes Bloomquist •
  • Originally published July 13, 2008 at 12:03 a.m., updated July 13, 2008 at 12:03 a.m.

Jeremy Fikac spent all day on Friday making his way from Rio Doso, N.M., to Victoria to play in the semifinals of the South Central Texas Amateur League.

The Victoria Rosebuds must wish he would have stayed out west.

Fikac scattered nine hits and led the Schulenburg Merchants to an 8-3 win on Saturday at Riverside Stadium and a berth into the championship today against La Grange at 2 p.m. in La Grange.

“I felt tight at the start of the game from the car ride,” Fikac said, “but I was locating the ball and we didn’t have any errors. They put the ball in play, but our guys were making all the plays behind me.”

The loss ends the Rosebuds season and without a championship for the second consecutive season. The team had won the SCTAL championship two straight years from 2005-06.

Fikac, who played at Shiner before being drafted into professional baseball, is now 33-years-old and looking to get into coaching baseball in Austin. He got out of pro ball after the 2005 season with stints in the San Diego, Oakland, Montreal and San Francisco organizations.

Still, leading the Merchants into uncharted territory has him feeling good about making the trip to Victoria.

“I’m still a competitor and love the game,” Fikac said. “This franchise has never been to the finals, so for us to do this is fun. It’s great to play on a team with these guys and it’s great to play for the championship.”

Victoria starter Clayton Meyer received the loss, tossing four innings of nine hit baseball. Meyer fanned three Schulenburg batters and stranded eight, but gave up the first five runs of the game.

Reliever Keith Kischnick came in for the final five innings and picked up three strikeouts for the Rosebuds.

Kyle Newman, Justin Krawietz and Brian Fields led Victoria at the plate, all going 2-for-4 against Fikac. Aaron Mozisek and Rob Gomez each added singles for the Rosebuds.

The Rosebuds fell behind 1-0 in the first inning after Fikac helped his own cause with an RBI double to score Errol Jones. The Merchants added their second run on a Marshall Berford RBI double, before the Rosebuds scored in its half of the third inning with an RBI single off the bat of Brian Fields.

The single scored Rob Gomez who doubled to the left field wall with one out.

Schulenburg quickly responded though, adding three runs to its total in the fourth inning. Jerod Fikac hit an RBI double to score Colten Hermis to highlight the inning.

Newman scored on a fielder’s choice in the fifth for Victoria, while Justin Krawietz touched home plate on a passed ball in the ninth for the Rosebuds’ final run.



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