Tigers Win in the Ninth
8/4/13
Springfield traveled to the Stark Ballpark for a contest with the Longhorns on Sunday afternoon. Stark built a 3-0 lead after four innings, but the Tigers battled back to tie the game in the seventh. They took advantage of a Longhorn error to plate the winning run in the top of the ninth for a 4-3 win.
Stark gave the ball to workhorse Adam Sellner. He worked his way around a number of Tiger baserunners while keeping Springfield off the scoreboard, stranding four in scoring position during the first five frames.
Brandon Wilhelmi took the bump for the visitors. He worked around a walk in each of the first two innings by picking off the baserunner in the first, and starting a 1-6-3 double play in the second.
A pair of errors in the bottom of the third put Stark on the board with an unearned run. Jake Mangen led off the bottom of the fourth with a base hit. Brandon Helget followed by launching a two-run homer into the field over the right field fence to push the Stark lead to three.
Ryan Sturm started the top of the sixth with a single. Marc Salazar followed with a base hit of his own. A double play put a damper on the rally, but left the Tigers with Sturm at third. Cooper Scheffler ripped the third hit of the inning to get Springfield within two at 3-1.
The Tigers continued to fight back in the seventh. Zach Bisel started the inning with a base hit. Jacob Menage drew a walk to get two on. With two out, Alex Fink nestled a pop-up into short right field to drive in Bisel. Sturm followed by smashing a single to drive in Menage and tie the ballgame at three apiece.
Wilhelmi kept the damage at three after the homer in the fourth. He retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh, the only three-up, three-down inning of the ballgame, to cap his solid performance.
Sellner found a little something extra in the top of the eighth and picked up a pair of strikeouts in the scoreless inning. Springfield countered with a lefthander of their own in Eric Portner, drafteee from Hanska. Portner allowed a leadoff single, followed by a sacrifice bunt. With two out, an intentional walk to Joey Wahl set up a force, which came, and got the Tigers out of the jam.
Fink reached on a Stark's only error of the ballgame with two outs in the top of the ninth. After Fink swiped second, the Longhorns issued an intentional walk to Sturm. The free pass brought up Salazar who made them pay with a double to right-center field. Fink came across to give the Tigers the lead, but the inning came to an end as Sturm was thrown out at the plate.
Given the lead, Portner went to work in the bottom of the ninth. He struck out the side, with the only blemish coming on a two-out walk issued after a battle with Caleb Hillesheim, to cement Springfield's 4-3 victory.
Three Tigers had multi-hit days as part of Springfield's eleven hit attack. Marc Salazar led the way with three hits on the day. Ryan Sturm and Cooper Scheffler added two hits each. Jacob Menage, Brandon Wilhelmi, Alex Fink, and Zach Bisel all contributed one hit to the Tiger offense. Craig Fischer had two of Stark's six hits in the ballgame to lead the home team. Eric Portner picked up the win, working the final two innings, giving up one hit while striking out three. Adam Sellner took the complete game loss for the Longhorns. He allowed four runs, three earned, on eleven hits with eight Ks, while walking five and hitting two.
The win moves Springfield to 2-0 in the Region 2C Tournament and drops Stark to 0-2. Next up, Sleepy Eye will pay a visit to Riverside Park on Tuesday night. Come on out to watch some exciting playoff baseball!
NOTES: Going into the 2013 season Springfield had dropped six straight games at Stark. Sunday's win marked the Tiger's second victory there this season...Eric Portner's win on the mound was not his first at Stark for a team other than Hanska. Portner earned the win on the mound for the American Division All-Stars in the 2012 Tomahawk East All-Star Game, along with the MVP, as he struck out six while working three innings...The sunshine has been the Tiger's friend this season. Their record in day games stands at 9-3 on the year.
Scorecard
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 10 |
| Stark | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menage, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Wilhelmi, P/3B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Fink, SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | HP |
| Sturm, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ma. Salazar, DH | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2B, HP |
| Anderson, 3B | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Portner, P | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Loomis, 2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | SAC(2) |
| Scheffler, LF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Bisel, C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Vanderwerf, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Vogel, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 32 | 4 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 8 | ||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Wilhelmi | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Portner (W, 1-0) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Pictures
