Bishop DuBourg Wins Class 3 State Championship With 8-5 Win Over Winfield

July 6, 2010

By stephen Glover of Get In The Game Saint Louis Magazine



(SPRINGFIELD, MO) Saturday was a great day to be a Cavalier.

Behind a solid pitching performance by senior starter Joshua Wagemann, Bishop DuBourg (25-4, 10-2 AAA Conference) captured the Missouri Class 3 state baseball championship with an 8-5 win over Winfield at Meador Park in Springfield, Mo. The win for the Cavaliers marked the first time that Bishop DuBourg had won a boy's state championship since the boy's soccer team tied St. Thomas Aquinas 2-2 back in 1977.

Bishop DuBourg head coach Joe Groaning talked about the significance of the win in regards to the history of the Cavalier athletic program.

"Obvious this is a big win for the baseball program but I would say that it is as an athletic program as a school being a 1983 graduate (of DuBourg)," Groaning said. "DuBourg doesn't have the reputation of being an athletic powerhouse, but this senior class got it started with soccer in the fall and then with the basketball team over the winter and volleyball and baseball in the spring."

Wagemann, who recorded his ninth win of the season, was solid throughout the game as he gave up just 4 earned runs on 7 hits in 6 2/3 innings pitched. Wagemann walked just two batters and retired 5 via strikeout in the Cavaliers win over Winfield.

"Josh is just a gamer," Groaning said. "He told our assistant earlier this year that he thinks of himself as a reliever. Sometimes he has to go 7 innings in relief, but he has that relievers mentality."

For Wagemann, Saturday's win over Winfield will go down as one of the greatest moments in Cavalier athletics history.

"The main thing is that we made DuBourg history," Wagemann said. "To be the first to go this far and to be able to pitch in these games was just great."