Pair of Big Innings Lead to Springfield Victory
6/1/11
The Gibbon Reds visited Riverside Park on Wednesday night. Springfield's offense was hitting on all cylinders as every starter recorded at least one hit. The Tigers had a pair of six run innings to take a big lead and cruise to a 13-5 win.
Jordan Milbrath started on the mound for the Tigers and pitched a solid four innings, giving up just one hit that deflected off his heal in the top of the fourth and drove in a runner who had reached via a lead-off walk.
The Reds countered with Cody Berger on the hill. He kept Springfield off the scoreboard and allowed just one hit in the first two innings. The home team's bats took over in the bottom of the third as the Tigers batted around, scoring six runs. Key hits included an RBI single from Brady Schwab and a bases loaded double from Dave Kreft.
In the home half of the fourth, Alex Frank drew his second straight lead-off walk. Alex Fink followed with a single. A sacrifice bunt from Zach Bisel moved the runners up before a sacrifice fly from Schwab scored Frank. After Marc Salazar drew a walk, Springfield proceeded to get five straight two-out hits to plate a total of six runs in the inning and increase their lead to 12-1. Sam Van Hon came on to get the final out of the fourth.
The Tigers went to the bullpen for Bryant Krebs in the top of the fifth. Krebs pitched very well, facing just one over the minimum in his two innings of work. Gibbon went to the bullpen again in the bottom of the fifth to bring on #9. He hit Zach Bisel and allowed two hits along with a Tiger run, before settling in to retire the final six batters he faced.
With the score 13-1, Christian Loomis came on to pitch the top of the seventh. Loomis allowed three hits and the Springfield defense struggled, committing three errors, allowing Gibbon to keep the game alive as they pulled within eight, 13-5.
Brandon Kerling took over the mound duties in the bottom of the seventh for Gibbon. He allowed just a single, facing only seven batters as he worked the final two innings. Jason Nachreiner came on for the Tigers in the top of the ninth and retired the side in quick three-up, three-down fashion to wrap up the Springfield win.
Alex Fink, Brady Schwab, Matt Baier, Dave Kreft, and Jordan Milbrath all had two hits each. Zach Bisel, Marc Salazar, Christian Loomis, and Alex Frank all added one hit to the Tiger attack. Arthur Forst led the Reds with two hits. Bryant Krebs earned the win, working two hitless innings in relief of Tiger starter Milbrath. Cody Berger was tagged with the loss for the Reds, working the three and two-thirds innings, allowing twelve runs on ten hits and walking six.
The victory improves the Tiger's league record to 4-2 and 5-3 overall. Springfield will take a week off from the Tomahawk East as they'll travel to St. Stephen and Sartell for the Omann Insurance Invitational Tournament on Saturday and Sunday. They'll open with an 11:30am contest against Detroit Lakes in St. Stephen. The tournament continues with a game at 2 or 5pm on Saturday and then a game on Sunday at either 11am or 1:30pm. The Tigers fell to co-host Sartell in the championship last season and have improved in each year that they have participated in the tournament, finishing 8th in 2008, 6th in 2009, and 2nd in 2010. Hopefully the weekend will bring some nice weather and some Tiger victories! Go Tigers!
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibbon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| Springfield | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 13 | 14 | 4 | 8 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Fink, SS | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Bisel, LF/C | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | SAC, HP |
| Schwab, C | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | SAC |
| Sather, PR/LF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Salazar, 1B/2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Baier, 2B/3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kreft, DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2B |
| Brandl, DH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Krebs, RF/P | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Nachreiner, 1B/P | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Milbrath, P/RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2B |
| Loomis, 3B/P | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Christensen, 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Frank, CF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 35 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 7 | 5 | ||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Milbrath | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Krebs, (W, 1-1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| Loomis | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| Nachreiner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pictures
