Tigers Ride Six Run Sixth to Win
5/11/14
Springfield made a trip to Stark to battle the Longhorns in a Mother's Day matinee on Sunday afternoon. The bases were busy, but Stark held a 1-0 lead through five innings. With all the traffic on the bases, it seemed that a big inning could break out at any time. The Tigers broke through for six runs in the sixth on their way to a 6-4 victory.
Craig Fischer beat out an infield hit to start the bottom of the first. Tiger shortstop Christopher Eichten's debut was cut short as he was injured when Fischer stole second. Fischer scored the game's first run on Springfield hurler Brandon Wilhelmi's wild pitch.
Stark's Landon Zinniel had allowed six base runners through five innings, but no hits. Tiger first baseman Pat Moriarty changed that when he crushed a ball well over the scoreboard in right-center field. Moriarty's bomb started a stretch of five straight Springfield batters to reach base and ended Zinniel's afternoon.
Fischer took over on the mound. While getting a pair of called third strikes, he also allowed a pair of two-RBI hits to Carter Erickson and Zach Bisel. Springfield capitalized on the game's only error to plate their sixth run of the inning.
With the 6-1 lead, manager Steve Helget handed the ball to Christian Loomis. Loomis worked around a couple hits and a walk in the sixth and seventh to maintain the five run cushion.
Back-to-back one-out walks in the top of the eighth had the Longhorns going to the bullpen again, as Nathan Kral took over. He worked out of the jam with the score remaining, 6-1.
Loomis ran into trouble in the home half of the eighth. Stark loaded the bases on an infield single and two walks. Two wild pitches, a groundout, and a single by Jake Mangen brought the tying run to the plate in Joey Wahl. Springfield went to Alex Frank who yielded a hit to Wahl, but got the third out on a flyout to end the Stark rally.
Kral and Frank exchanged three-up, three-down innings in the ninth to make the final, 6-4.
Zach Bisel, Matt Vogel, and Carter Erickson led the way for the Tiger offense with two hits each. Pat Moriarty and Jacob Menage added one hit each to the Springfield total. Jake Mangen, Joey Wahl, and Mitch Neid all had big days at the plate for Stark with three hits each. Brandon Wilhelmi picked up the win, working five innings, allowing one run on seven hits, with four strikeouts and four free passes. Landon Zinniel took the loss, also working the first five innings, allowing four runs, all earned, on three hits, to go along with five walks and three strikeouts. Alex Frank earned his second save of the young season, working the final inning and a third, giving up one hit while striking out two.
The win moves Springfield to 2-0 on the year. Next up, the Tigers return home to Riverside Park for their home opener on Sunday night when they host Lamberton at 7:30pm. See you at the ballpark!
NOTES: Christopher Eichten's Tiger debut didn't go as he hoped when he was injured while making the tag on a stolen base attempt in the bottom of the first inning. Eichten was pinch-hit for and re-entered to play defense until his spot in the order came around again...With Eichten joining the team, Brandon Wilhelmi has two brother-in-laws as teammates: Eichten is married to his sister Tiffany and Sam Baier is his wife Katie's younger brother...Springfield and Stark combined to strand 28 runners on base in the contest. The Tigers left the bases loaded four times.
Scorecard
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 15 |
| Stark | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheffler, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Eichten, SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Brandl, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bisel, C | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2B |
| Frank, CR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wilhelmi, P/LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | HP(2) |
| Moriarty, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | HR |
| Loomis, DH/P | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |
| Frank, P | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Baier, LF | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Menage, C/RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Vogel, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Erickson, RF/SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | HP |
| Vanderwerf, CF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 36 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 | ||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Wilhelmi (W, 1-0) | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
| Loomis | 2 2/3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Frank (SV, 2) | 1 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Pictures
