Tigers Plate Four in Bottom of Ninth to Top A's

7/11/09

Less than 24 hours after wrapping up a tough loss in Lamberton, the Tigers were back in action against St. James at the friendly confines of Riverside Park. The A's were in control most of the game, but Springfield kept battling, even beyond what could have been the final strike, to pull out a 7-6 win.

Jason Nachreiner made the start on the mound for the home team. He held the A's off the board until the top of the third when they started the inning with four straight hits, including two bunt singles. A bases loaded double by Brandon Olson plated two runs. A bases loaded walk and a passed ball allowed two additional runs to score giving St. James a 4-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Andy Moritz led off with a walk and Jake Miesen was hit by a pitch. Brandon Wilhelmi took Miesen's place at first when he reached on a fielder's choice. He stole second and Alex Frank came through with a big two-out single scoring Moritz and Wilhelmi and cutting the A's lead to two.

Moritz started the fifth inning with a long double to left field. A ground out moved him up to second and he came in to score on a St. James error, making the score 4-3. Nachreiner's night came to an end in the top of the sixth when he gave up a lead-off single, followed by back-to-back walks. Matt Tews came on in relief with the bases loaded. He got the first out on a fielder's choice as Wilhelmi cut down the runner at the plate. A run scored when he hit the next batter and the A's extended their lead to three on a wild pitch.

Tews retired ten of the next eleven batters he faced after hitting the batter which drove in the A's final run. Springfield was able to get just one base runner in the sixth through eighth innings when Wilhelmi singled in the eighth, but he was stranded at second, one of just three runners the Tigers left on base all night.

Trailing 6-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, Marc Salazar reached on a St. James error. Ryan Cook drove a one-out single to right field to get two on base. Pinch hitter Brady Schwab came through with a clutch base hit to left, scoring Salazar and making the score 6-4. Brent Haseleu battled with two outs, but struck out. However, the catcher wasn't able to cleanly handle the third strike. His throw to first base was high and went into right field. The right fielder in turn over-threw the ball into the Springfield dugout allowing Cook and pinch runner Jason Nachreiner to come around to score and tie the game. The throw into the dugout placed Haseleu at third base. With Wilhelmi at the plate, the second pitch went to the backstop, and Haseleu came in to score giving Springfield a thrilling 7-6 victory.

Matt Tews picked up the win, evening his record at 2-2 on the season. He worked the final four innings and allowed just one hit. The Tigers had just five hits on the evening with one each from Brandon Wilhelmi, Alex Frank, Ryan Cook, Andy Moritz, and Brady Schwab. The win improves Springfield's league record to 8-10 on the season. They'll look to continue moving closer to .500 as they're back in action on Sunday afternoon in St. James at 2pm. Go Tigers!

Linescore

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB
St. James 0 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 6 8 4 12
Springfield 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 4 7 5 3 3

Springfield Box

AB R H RBI BB SO
B. Wilhelmi, SS 4 1 1 0 0 0
Frank, CF 4 0 1 2 0 1
Baier, 3B 4 0 0 0 0 1
Salazar, 1B 4 1 0 0 0 0
Tews, LF/P 4 0 0 0 0 0
   Christensen, LF - - - - - -
Cook, RF 4 1 1 0 0 0
Moritz, C 3 2 1 0 1 1 2B
Miesen, DH 2 0 0 0 0 0 HP
   Schwab, PH 1 0 1 1 0 0
Nachreiner, P/LF/PR 0 1 0 0 0 0
Haseleu, 2B 4 1 0 0 0 1
34 7 5 3 1 4
IP H R ER BB SO
Nachreiner 5    7 6 6 5 4
Tews (W, 2-2) 4    1 0 0 2 2

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