ST. JOSEPH — “It’s always good to win the last one,” says Buckley Dutchmasters manager Jimmy Brandt.
The Dutchmasters have won the last game of the Eastern Illinois Baseball League season in each of the last four summers, including a 10-5 victory over the Royal Giants in Game 2 of the Eastern Illinois Baseball League Tournament championship series on Sunday.
They are the first team to win four tournament championships in a row since the Giants did it in 1967-70.
“It’s obviously something very special,” Brandt said. “It gets sweeter and sweeter the older you get.”
Unlike the previous three years, the Dutchmasters had to clinch the title on the road – at Meier Field in rural St. Joseph, specifically – after the Giants claimed the first regular-season EI League title not won by Buckley since 2021.
“We had to figure some things out,” Brandt said. “We had to work a lot harder than we had in the last couple of years. I’ve got to give all these guys credit. They bought into what we wanted to do and understand the environment we’re in. Winning four in a row is pretty impressive. We just need to keep the ball rolling as we get into next year.”
Buckley (12-5) got the job done with a mixture of veterans – including Josh Krumwiede and Jay Eshleman, whose retirements as players became effective at the final out on Sunday – and newcomers.
“We really started to mesh about halfway through the year,” Krumweide said. “It was kind of neat to see the team come together, especially on a day like today. Different guys came through in so many different games. Give credit to our guys for coming through in those tough spots. We played some pretty flawless baseball the last couple of days. As long as I’ve been here, and before me, and I’m sure after me, it’s always going to be about the team. We find a way.”
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One of Buckley’s first-year players is Braden Roesch, a 2021 Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and 2025 Illinois State University graduate who threw 156 pitches en route to tossing a complete game for the Dutchmasters on Sunday.
“My entire body feels pretty tired, but it was worth it,” Roesch said. “It was fun. I enjoyed it. It feels good. It’s always fun to win. It was fun playing. We’ll see what I do in the future, but I’m glad they asked me to play and we were able to get the trophy.”
The Giants (13-5) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Trevor Ames drew a leadoff walk, Braxton Waller singled to center field and Blake Hoveln walked to load the bases before Ames scored on a passed ball and Tom Wolken sent Waller home by hitting into a 3-6-3 double play.
From there, Roesch struck out 16 batters and walked two while allowing two runs on three hits through the final eight innings.
“The first inning was pretty bad. I think I was just moving too fast and slowed myself down and got through it. I just got myself in a rhythm. I was pretty happy with how it went,” Roesch said. “When you don’t have your best stuff early, you’ve got to figure it out and compete, and that’s what I tried to do.”
It was the third game in a row in which Buckley trailed by multiple runs after the first inning.
In the second inning, Tanner Tompkins singled to left field and Ty Cribbett doubled to center field before Andrew Zenner reached base on an error that led to Tompkins crossing home plate.
After Roesch struck out the side in the bottom of the second inning, the Dutchmasters took a 4-2 lead in the top of the third.
Following a leadoff double by Drake Schrodt, Krumwiede sent him home to score the tying run via a line-drive base hit to left field.
“We were always chasing from the first inning on, but in a way, I think that kind of woke us up a little bit,” Krumwiede said.
Krumwiede finished the game hitting 3-for-4, including an eighth-inning single to left field in his final career at-bat.
“Getting a hit in the last at-bat will sit well with me for my career,” Krumwiede said.
He finished his season hitting .311 after accumulating a .188 batting average in the regular season.
Throughout his career, Krumwiede hit over .330 with more than 340 hits and 200 RBIs in more than 285 games played.
“It’s kind of weird. You play the whole year and you’re like, ‘Alright, you’re definitely done,’” Krumwiede said. “I’m definitely done, but it was nice to be able to get back to form.”
Following Krumwiede’s game-tying RBI hit, Hunter Brewer drew a walk before Cribbett, a 2024 GCMS graduate, doubled to center field to send Brewer and Tompkins across home plate.
“It’s nice whenever you get the pitch you like to hit and people get on for me to be able to get those runs in,” Cribbett said.
Cribbett, who plays for Millikin University, finished the game hitting 3-for-5.
Though he, like Roesch, is also in his first year with Buckley, Cribbett is no stranger to deep postseason play as he was part of a GCMS baseball team that finished fourth in the IHSA Class 1A state tournament in the spring of 2024.
“Going to state is really hard to beat, but this is so close,” Cribbett said. “It was a lot of fun.”
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Royal tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the third inning.
Waller hit a two-out single to center field and Hoveln and Wolken each drew a hit-by-pitch to load the bases before Adam Price singled to center field to send Waller and Hoveln across home plate.
“They fought all the way to the end and answered a bunch of punches we threw at them,” Brandt said. “Give them credit. They fought hard all day.”
Royal won three out of four regular-season matchups this summer against Buckley, so the hard battle was not a surprise.
“They gave us a lot of problems in the regular season,” Krumwiede said.
Buckley countered with a two-run fourth inning to take a 6-4 lead.
Zach Price drew a leadoff walk and Jay Eshleman got on base via a bunt single to put runners on the corners before Schrodt grounded into a fielder’s choice, sending Cole Eshleman – Price’s courtesy runner – across home plate for the go-ahead run.
After Krumwiede drew a walk, Tompkins sent Schrodt home via a line-drive double to left field.
Tompkins finished the game hitting 3-for-5.
“It was a good day,” Tompkins said. “I struggled last weekend, but this weekend, I felt a lot better. I can’t complain at all.”
Tompkins is in his second year with Buckley, but was not around for last year’s tournament championship-clinching win as he joined another league in the middle of that season.
“It was fun to actually be a part of it this time,” Tompkins said. “Winning these types of games has kind of become the identity of Buckley. It’s always fun to be winning. It was a blast to win it for Buckley. It’s good to keep winning.”
In the fifth inning, Tuff Elson hit a one-out single to right field before scoring on a line-drive base hit to right field by Zach Price to extend Buckley’s lead to 7-4.
Meanwhile, Roesch retired all six batters he faced in the fourth and fifth innings, including three via strikeouts.
“It always helps when we score runs,” Roesch said. “It seems like when I give up runs, we just go score runs. That makes you want to go out and keep pitching. It was good to know my teammates were just going to keep scoring runs.”
Wolken led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run past the right-field fence to make it 7-5 before Price and Jake Miller each drew a walk. After Roesch struck out Casey Dillman, Chad Vermillion grounded into a 6-3 double play orchestrated by the shortstop Brewer.
After that inning, Giants manager Tim Dillman was ejected from the game for arguing.
From there, Roesch retired Royal’s final three batters, striking out the side in the seventh and ninth innings.
“Braden Roesch gave everything he had in his tank and got the job done for us,” Brandt said.
After Austin Davy started in Game 1, Roesch started in Game 2 to help make up for the absence of the EI League’s Virgil Scheiwe Award winner – the award recognizing the league’s most outstanding pitcher – in Luke Shoven.
“We were a little thin pitching-wise coming into this weekend, and we knew it,” Brandt said. “We have to give Roesch and Austin Davy credit for really buckling down and giving us a ton of innings to lengthen everything out. I couldn’t have asked for anything more than what Braden gave to us today.”
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In the eighth inning, Schrodt hit a one-out double to center field and Krumwiede singled to put runners on the corners before Brewer grounded into a fielder’s choice to send Schrodt across home plate, extending Buckley’s lead to 8-5.
The Dutchmasters extended it further with two more runs in the ninth inning.
Cribbett hit a leadoff double to right field and Elson drew a hit-by-pitch before a sacrifice bunt by Zenner put both runners in scoring position.
After Price drew an intentional walk to load the bases, Cribbett scored on a wild pitch. Jay Eshleman then sent Elson home with a sacrifice fly ball to center field.
As a team, Buckley outhit Royal 14-4.
“We put a bunch of crooked numbers up,” Brandt said. “It was a great day offensively. We were able to get a bunch of hits when we needed to with runners in scoring position.”
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Brandt said his team will be reloading for next year in hopes of becoming the first-ever EI League team to win five tournament titles in a row.
“We want to be the team that wins the last game of the year,” Brandt said. “That’s always our goal. We’re going to work hard during recruiting and making sure we get ourselves in a position to do so, and we’ll let the results fall where they may. We’re going to enjoy today.”
One of the players planning to return next season is Tompkins, who will first coach baseball as a graduate assistant at Tabor College in Kansas.
“It’s going to be a blast,” Tompkins said.
After completing 15 years with the Dutchmasters, including 10 regular-season championships and nine of Buckley’s 21 tournament titles, Krumwiede said he is thankful for his time as he heads into retirement.
“It’s kind of hard to sum up,” Krumwiede said. “You couldn’t ask for anything better. I’m just proud to be a part of it. Give Jimmy (Brandt) and (Dutchmasters General Manager) Trent (Eshleman) a lot of credit for keeping it together and recruiting the guys to play and making it very enjoyable not just this year, but for my entire career.”
Buckley Dutchmasters 10, Royal Giants 5
BUCK 013 210 012 — 10 14 0
ROY 202 001 000 — 5 4 2
W – Braden Roesch, 9 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 16 K, 4 BB. L – Trevor Ames, 6 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 6 K, 3 BB.
Buckley (12-5) – Drake Schrodt 2-6, 2 2B, RBI, 3 R. Josh Krumwiede 3-4, RBI. Hunter Brewer RBI, R. Tanner Tompkins 3-5, 2B, RBI, 2 R. Tuff Elson 1-3, 2 R. Ty Cribbett 3-5, 3 2B, R. Andrew Zenner RBI. Zach Price 1-3, RBI, 2 BB. Jay Eshleman 1-4, RBI.
Royal (13-5) – Trevor Ames R. Braxton Waller 2-4, 2 R. Blake Hoveln R. Tom Wolken 1-3, HR, RBI, R. Adam Price 1-3, 2 RBIs.