Tigers Run Out of Gas Against Lakers

6/2/12

Springfield traveled to Sartell to participate in the 2012 Omann Insurance Invitational. For the first time, the Tigers opened with games in Sartell, rather than beginning in St. Stephen on Saturday. The game one opponent was the Lastrup Lakers, who entered the game undefeated on the season. The game was tied at three at the end of the scheduled seven innings, and remained knotted until the Lakers finally broke through for four runs in the ninth to pick up a 7-3 win.

Alex Frank took the hill for Springfield. Lastrup went right to work in the top of the first, putting together a walk, along with a pair of doubles to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

Chad Weiss was Frank's mound opponent. He kept the Tigers at bay until the bottom of the fourth. Marc Salazar was hit by a pitch. Ryan Sturm followed with a base hit. Then Christian Loomis tied the game with a double down the right field line.

Unfortunately, after Springfield tied the game, Lastrup broke out another pair of two-baggers to retake the lead, 3-2, in the next half inning. Then Frank took it upon himself to even things again in the bottom of the fifth, as he crushed a homer over the left field fence.

Both hurlers exchanged zeros in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. Each facing just one batter over the minimum during those three frames. The Tigers best chance to win the game came in the bottom of the seventh when Loomis led-off with a single. Ryan Beyer got on board with a base hit of his own, but a double play ended the Tigers' best opportunity to pull out the victory.

In the top of the ninth, Lastrup took advantage of a walk, infield hit and sacrifice bunt to get a pair of runners in scoring position with one out. They then executed a squeeze bunt which netted them a pair of runs. After the runs scored, it was like a balloon had burst on the Tigers. Lastrup tacked on two additional runs before finally being retired, leading to the final of 7-3.

Christian Loomis and Ryan Beyer both had a pair of hits for Springfield. Ryan Sturm and Alex Frank rounded out the offense, adding one hit each. Dustin Schmaltz led the Lakers with three hits, all doubles, and four runs batted in. Chad Weiss earned the win, working all nine innings, allowing three runs on six hits with twelve strikeouts. Frank took the loss, battling through nine innings, allowing seven runs, on ten hits, with two strikeouts.

The loss put the Tigers in the losers' bracket of the tournament and set-up a 3:30pm contest with tournament co-host Sartell.

Linescore

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
Lastrup	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	7	10	0	8
Springfield	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	3	6	2	3

Springfield Box

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
Bisel, C	4	0	0	0	0	0
Mi. Salazar, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	4
Ma. Salazar, 1B	3	1	0	0	0	3	HP
R. Sturm, 3B	4	1	1	0	0	1
Loomis, SS	3	0	2	2	1	0	2B
Brandl, RF	4	0	0	0	0	1
Beyer, CF	3	0	2	0	0	1
Mx. Salazar, LF	3	0	0	0	0	1
Frank, P	3	1	1	1	0	1	HR
	31	3	6	3	1	12
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Frank (L, 0-4)	9	10	7	7	5	2

Pictures