Longhorns Down Tigers in Regular Season Finale
7/22/12
Springfield traveled to Stark to wrap up the regular season on Sunday night. Everyone's sweat glands were maxed out in the heat. All but one of the game's runs were scored in the first four innings, as Longhorn hurlers held the Tigers to just two hits. Five errors by the hosts gave Springfield a chance but they fell just short, 4-3.
The Tigers starting lineup looked a little different with the Legion players taking the night off, having played earlier in the day and on Saturday. Matt Tews and Ryan Sturm drew walks in the first, but Stark starter Caleb Hillesheim worked his way out of the inning without any damage.
Tews made his third start of the season on the mound. He started by issuing a pair of walks. He was able to get two outs, but wasn't able to match Hillesheim's scoreless first. Hillesheim helped himself out with a ground rule double that bounced over the centerfield fence, putting Stark up 1-0.
Marty Brandl led off the top of the third with a double. Tews helped himself with a base hit to give Springfield runners at the corners. Brandl came in to score the tying run on a fielder's choice by Marc Salazar. A Longhorn error extended the inning and allowed Salazar to score, giving Springfield a 2-1 lead.
The lead was gone just three pitches into the bottom of the third when Dusty Mangen connected on a solo homer to rightfield. Jake Mangen followed with a single. He came around to score when Bob Schmid ripped a double to right-center, making the tally 3-2.
After getting the first two outs in the bottom of the fourth, a Springfield error extended the inning and Stark made the Tigers pay. They followed the miscue with a pair of hits to extend their lead to two, 4-2.
Christian Loomis took over on the hill on the bottom of the fifth. He was greeted with a base hit, but worked his way out of the inning that included two free passes without allowing a run.
Tews' single in the third turned out to be Springfield's last hit of the night. Hillesheim settled in to work his way into the seventh with the Tigers stuck at two on the scoreboard. In the top of the seventh, Hillesheim issued two walks. With one down after a fielder's choice, Stark went to the pen to bring on Brad Mathiowetz. A bad throw as the Longhorns attempted to turn the second half of a double-play scored Zach Bisel to make the score 4-3. Mathiowetz walked Sturm, but got a line out to end the Springfield threat.
A pair of Stark errors, along with a hit batter, gave Springfield their best chance to tie or take the lead with one out in the top of the eighth. The rally was extinguished when Max Salazar was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on a fly out caught by shortstop Schmid in short centerfield.
Loomis kept Stark off the board during his four innings of work. He worked around a hit in the first and last inning of his appearance and four walks. Mathiowetz got back-to-back strikeouts after another Stark misplay in the ninth to end the ballgame with the score 4-3.
Matt Tews and Marty Brandl had the only two hits for Springfield on the night. Jake Mangen paced Stark with three hits. Bob Schmid added two hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Caleb Hillesheim earned the win in six and one-third innings of work, giving up three runs, one earned, on two hits with eight strikeouts, but six walks. Tews took the loss, dropping his record to 2-1 on the year. Tews has had decisions in all three of his starts on the year. Sunday night he worked four innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on seven hits with one strikeout.
The Tigers end the regular season at 10-12 in Tomahawk East League play and 10-16 overall. Everyone is back to 0-0 when the postseason begins on Friday. Springfield will begin a best-of-three game series against St. James by hosting game one. They'll travel to St. James on Sunday and finally host game three on Tuesday, if necessary. Come cheer on the Tigers as they look to get out in front in the best-of-three series!
NOTES: Marty Brandl left the game in the middle of the fourth due to the heat...Springfield has not faced St. James in the postseason since playing them in the region tournament in 1999...Jake Miesen has his first plate appearance since 2010...Offense tends to be on display on the Tigers head to Stark. The 4-3 final was the fewest number of runs scored by the teams combined since 2005 when Springfield lost 3-2 in the regular season finale.
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Stark | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 4 | 9 | 5 | 12 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bisel, C | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Tews, P/2B/RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| M. Salazar, 1B | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| R. Sturm, 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |
| Loomis, 2B/P | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Schmid, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | HP |
| Mx. Salazar, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Mi. Salazar, DH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | HP |
| Haseleu, SS/PR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brandl, RF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2B, SAC |
| Miesen, RF/2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Nachreiner, PR/2B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 31 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 11 | ||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Tews (L, 2-1) | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | |
| Loomis | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
Pictures
