Springfield Overcomes Errors to Down St. James
7/7/13
Temperatures were in the 90s as the Tigers met the A's in a game that was rescheduled from a rainout in June in St. James. Springfield committed an error in four different innings. The A's made them pay in three of the four innings, scoring all of their runs in those frames. A pair of picked off runners at first, a couple inning-ending double plays, and some key strikeouts got the Tigers out of some jams and gave them a 7-5 victory.
Brandon Wilhelmi made his eighth start of the season for the Tigers. The A's first four batters reached base in the bottom of the second. They were aided by a Springfield error and a sacrifice fly to build a 2-0 lead, before a double play ended the inning.
St. James left hander Joe Hager was Wilhelmi's mound opponent. He was nearly flawless during his first time through the order. The only blemish was a big one as the A's lost their starting shortstop, Austin Pinke, when he dove to keep a ball off the bat of Ryan Sturm in the infield and suffered an injury.
The second time through the order proved to be more fruitful for the visitors as Jacob Menage ripped a double to lead off the fourth. Alex Fink followed with a base hit. Matt Vogel cut the Tigers deficit in half with a base hit that scored Fink, making the score 2-1.
The fifth saw Springfield start the inning with two hits that didn't leave the infield. Wilhelmi laid down a sac bunt to move the runners to second and third, but a collision at first allowed Zach Bisel to continue around and score the tying run.
Sturm reached via error to begin the sixth. A sac bunt moved him into scoring position and Vogel came through with his second RBI single of the day to put Springfield on top, 3-2.
After the two-run second, Wilhelmi found his groove, facing just two batters over the minimum during the next four innings, including striking out the side in the fifth.
The Tigers added to their lead in the seventh when Wilhelmi drew a one-out walk. Fink then crushed a two-run homer off the roof of the brown tin shed beyond the right-center field fence.
Springfield's defense started a streak of three straight innings with an error in the seventh. The extra out ignited the A's bats as they put together three singles to score two runs and get within one, 5-4.
Spotting St. James two in the seventh, got the Tigers' bats back in gear in the eighth. After facing the first two batters of the inning, Hager was relieved by Dusty Pfeiffer. A pair of hits by Christian Loomis and Marc Salazar, along with a couple sac bunts put runners at second and third for Cooper Scheffler. He knocked them in with a single to push the lead back to three, 7-4.
Jason Nachreiner came on from the bullpen in the eighth and promptly retired the first two batters. A two-out single, followed by a Springfield error and a pair of wild pitches made the score 7-5, which would be the final, after the teams exchanged zeroes in the ninth.
Alex Fink, Matt Vogel, and Cooper Scheffler led the Springfield offense with two hits and two runs batted in each. Jacob Menage, Ryan Sturm, Christian Loomis, Marc Salazar, and Zach Bisel all added one hit apiece. Anthony Stordalen, Craig Nelson, and Joe Hager all clubbed two hits to lead the St. James attack. Brandon Wilhelmi improved his record to 5-1 on the season with the win, working seven innings, allowing four runs, two earned, on ten hits with eight strikeouts. Joe Hager was tagged with the loss, going seven and one-third innings, giving up six runs, four earned, on nine hits with four strikeouts. Jason Nachreiner worked the final two innings to slam the door and earn his fourth save of the season.
The win improves the Tiger's record to 13-8 overall and 11-5 in the Tomahawk East on the year. Next up, the Tigers return to Springfield for a 7:30pm matchup with Redwood Falls at Riverside Park.
NOTES: The game was broadcast on 860 KNUJ. The Tigers are 2-0 on the radio this year. The other win came when they defeated the Redbirds at Redwood Falls on KLGR...St. James hosted Youth Baseball Association Day during the ballgame on Sunday.
Scorecard
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 6 |
| St. James | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 8 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilhelmi, P/LF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | SAC |
| Menage, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2B |
| Fink, SS | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | HR |
| Sturm, 1B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Loomis, 2B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | SAC |
| Vogel, 3B | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | SAC |
| Ma. Salazar, DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| C. Milbrath, LF | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Nachreiner, P | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Bisel, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Anderson, PH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | SAC |
| Scheffler, CF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| 33 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 5 | ||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Wilhelmi (W, 5-1) | 7 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| Nachreiner (SV, 4) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Pictures
