Springfield Pounds St. James

6/10/11

Looking to end a four game losing streak, the Springfield Tigers traveled to St. James Friday night to battle the A's. There was moisture in the air, but the game was completed without interruption. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, beating the A's 13-2 in seven innings.

Jordan Milbrath started for the Tigers and pitched a gem. He went all seven innings only allowing two runs on three hits and striking out eight. Milbrath carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Nate Ewert lead off the inning with a single.

The offense for the Tigers started out strong against St. James starter Matt Dahl when Alex Fink began the first inning with a walk. Matt Baier followed with a single. Brady Schwab hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to drive in Fink, putting Springfield up 1-0.

The Tigers batted ten in the second, starting with a single by Milbrath. An error by the left fielder allowed Milbrath to advance to second. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Alex Frank drew a base on balls and stole second to set up Zach Bisel. Bisel drove a double to left center, scoring Milbrath and Frank. Fink followed with a double, scoring Bisel. Baier singled for his second hit of the night. Finally, both Fink and Baier scored on a single by Schwab, making the score 6-0.

Austin Pinke came on in relief in the third and held the Tigers to six runs until the fifth when they batted thirteen and scored another seven runs. Springfield took advantage of four walks, two hit batters, and four hits in the inning. Pinke left the game with one out and the A's turned to David Krause in relief. Krause faced six batters and got two strikeouts to end the inning with Springfield on top 13-0.

The St. James pitchers, Brandon Menssen and Matt Westman, went one inning each, keeping the Tigers off the scoreboard in the sixth and seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh, Joe Hager reached on a wild pitch on strike three. With two down, Ryan Menssen was hit by a pitch and Ewert reached on a single. Both Hager and Menssen were able to cross home plate before Milbrath finished the game with a called strike three, securing the win, 13-2.

The Tigers offense was lead by Matt Baier with three hits. Marc Salazar and Jordan Milbrath each added two. Alex Fink, Brady Schwab, Dave Kreft, Matt Tews, and Zach Bisel contributed with one hit each. For St. James, Nate Ewert had two of their three hits and Austin Pinke added one of his own. Jordan Milbrath earned the complete game victory. Matt Dahl was tagged with the loss for St. James going two innings and giving up six runs on seven hits, striking out one and walking two.

The win improves the Tigers to 5-3 in league play and 6-7 overall on the year. This Sunday the Tigers will travel to Gibbon to take on the Reds in a 2pm match-up. Come cheer on your Springfield Tigers!

Linescore

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
Springfield	1	5	0	0	7	0	0	x	x	13	12	1	12
St. James	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	x	x	2	3	2	6

Springfield Box

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
A. Fink, SS	5	3	1	2	1	1	2B
Baier, 2B/C	3	2	3	0	0	0	HP
Christensen, 2B	0	0	0	0	1	0
Schwab, RF	2	0	1	3	1	0	SAC
Brandl, PR/RF	0	1	0	0	1	0
Kreft, DH	2	1	1	1	2	1
Loomis, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	1
Tews, LF/2B	4	0	1	1	1	1
Salazar, 1B	5	1	2	1	0	0
Milbrath, P	5	2	2	0	0	1
Frank, CF	2	2	0	1	2	0	HP
Bisel, C	3	1	1	2	1	1	2B, HP
Krebs, PR/LF	0	0	0	0	0	0
	32	13	12	11	10	6
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Milbrath (W, 1-0)	7	3	2	2	2	8

Pictures