Humboldt baseball team wins district championship, 4-3!
The No. 10 ranked Humboldt High baseball team moved within one game of the state tournament after they edged No.3 Clear Lake, 4-3 Monday night (July 21) in a Class 3A district championship game in Clear Lake. Humboldt, 23-6, will play in a substate final on Wednesday, July 23, against Algona in a 7 p.m. game at Garrigan field in Algona. Algona advanced by beating Gilbert, 8-7.The Wildcats produced eight hits against Clear Lake, including a 2-run homer by Nick Laing in the 5th. Brenden Schnell and Chris Witzke scattered 10 Lion hits on the night from the mound with Schnell striking out 7.Humboldt produced 10 hits and Chris Witzke pitched a 3-hitter to lead the Wildcat baseball team past Ballard Huxley, 6-1 in a first round Class 3A District Tournament opening round game in Clear Lake Friday night (July 18).A 2-run fourth inning and a 3-run sixth were plenty in helping the Wildcats stay alive in post-season. Witzke, Tyler McKibban and Devon Clark each had two hits for Humboldt, which improved to 22-6 on the season. Witzke struck out nine and walked six.Clear Lake defeated Webster City 9-2 in the other district game in Clear Lake. In district play at Boone on Friday, Algona beat Nevada 11-1 in 6 innings and Gilbert topped Boone, 4-1. Gilbert and Algona play in a district final at Boone on Monday. A substate final is set for July 23 at a site to be determined.See complete story in the Humboldt Independent Newspaper. Subscribe for full access to the print and electronic editions of the Independent. Also visit Phil Monson on twitter.