By Sean Duncan

PEORIA ? With each passing pitch in the later innings of Saturday?s Class 2A state championship game, Teutopolis ace Derek Thompson solidified - no, earned - two impressive distinctions.

One: He was on the brink of leading Teutopolis (33-2) to its second consecutive state championship, in which he was the winning pitcher in both games.

And two: He is the best overall prospect in the Class of 2011, hands down.

The two points culminated in the seventh inning, when Thompson struck out the side in nine pitches, the final one registering at 91 mph, to properly punctuate his remarkable season and No. 8 Teutopolis? 4-0 victory over Walther Lutheran at O?Brien Field.

?It feels really good to win two state championships, and I have been fortunate enough to pitch in both championship games,? said Thompson.

Last year in the title game, Thompson did what no other pitcher could do: shut down Harrisburg?s offense in the Wooden Shoes? surprising title run. This year, Teutopolis was the unquestionable favorite to win it, and once again Thompson rose to the occasion.

The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Thompson shut out a Walther Lutheran team that tagged DuQuoin for 15 runs on Friday. He allowed six hits, struck out nine and walked two to finish his amazing senior year at 11-0. He opened the game at 88-91 mph with his fluid, two-seam fastball, and finished the game 90-91 mph. Thompson also features a plus changeup, which he admitted didn?t have a feel for until later in the game, to go along with a curveball.

For the season, the John A. Logan JC recruit allowed only one earned run, finishing with an incredible 112 strikeouts to seven walks in 60.1 innings.

?He?s a competitor,? said Teutopolis coach Justin Fleener. ?You put his ability with his competitive drive, and that?s what you get. He?s an extraordinary player.?

Teutopolis? incredible season, however, was in no way a one-man show, as it demonstrated throughout the tournament with its pitching depth, solid defense and clutch hitting up and down the lineup. For example, senior centerfielder Damon Hoene, the team?s No. 9 hitter, was the offensive hero Saturday, going 2-for-3 with three RBI.

?That?s what?s special about this team,? Fleener said about the Wooden Shoes? balance. ?[Hoene] is another leadoff hitter.?

Scoreless through two and a half innings, the game was zipping along before a weather delay forced the teams off the field at 6:13 p.m. Forty-five minutes later, Teutopolis quickly pushed across three runs in the top of the fourth inning behind three hits and an error. Hoene delivered the big blow with a two-run double, and shortstop Dillon Hardiek also had a run-scoring single.

Hardiek, a slick-fielding senior shortstop who went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored, is somehow uncommitted. Any college in need of a middle infielder should call­ Fleener.

?This is awesome,? said Hardiek, a straight-A student. ?Last year we were the underdog. This year we were expected to win it and we did. This team feeds off pressure, that?s when we play our best.

?We?ve been playing for this game all year.?

The damage in Teutopolis? fourth-inning outburst could?ve been much worse had Walther Lutheran senior right fielder Jon Lomnicki not made two incredible diving catches. Lomnicki also made a SportsCenter-worthy sprawling grab on Friday in centerfield.

The Wooden Shoes made it 4-0 in the sixth when Hoene singled in Hardiek.

Shaq Cockrell (2-3), a 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior right-hander, allowed seven hits, two earned runs and struck out four in his complete-game effort for Walther.

Walther Lutheran finished its up-and-down season at 18-15. But the Broncos? amazing ? and surprising ? run through the playoffs, which included victories over Westminster Christian, Aurora Christian and Herscher, had a lot of people talking.

?We weren?t said to win any of this,? said Lomnicki. ?We were the underdogs. No once knew who we were and thought they could walk all over us. I?m really proud of this team.?

One player who had Thompson?s number was Broncos shortstop Chris Stevens, who smashed a 90-mph fastball for a triple to dead-center field in the first inning, but was stranded after a groundout to shortstop ended the threat. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Stevens also had a leadoff double off the base of the right-center wall in the sixth. Stevens enjoyed quite a state tournament, producing five extra-base hits in six at-bats. On Friday, Stevens went 3-for-3 with three doubles.

?That kid is a great hitter,? said Thompson. ?He probably hit me the hardest of anyone all year.?

In the Class 2A third-place game, DuQuoin and Prophetstown played to a 4-4, six-inning tie before the plug was mercifully pulled on the game to beat the impending storm.