French Double Difference in 1-0 Epic
8/9/13
When the Tigers visited Johnson Park in New Ulm on Friday night, both teams came in with two wins in the Region 2C Tournament. The winner of the ballgame would clinch a berth in the 2013 state tournament by notching their third victory. Chris Cariveau and Dayton Larson exchanged zeros for the first seven and a half innings. One could tell the difference in the contest would likely be one key hit. That hit came in the form of a two-out double from Wade French, driving in the game's only run.
Tiger draftee, Larson, made his second start in the region tournament. He and New Ulm hurler Cariveau pitched their way to identical line scores through six innings: zero runs, one hit, and two errors. The Brewers had more base runners, but Larson was able to battle out of several jams, keeping New Ulm off the scoreboard.
Each team had their chances. The Tigers were unable to take advantage of two Brewer errors in the top of the sixth. New Ulm had a similar opportunity in the bottom of the fifth, but were unable to score.
Cariveau faced just three batters in six of his nine innings of work. Larson had just two such innings on the night.
After two were retired in the bottom of the eighth, Garrett Fischer singled and stole second. French followed by smashing a double off the fence in left-center field, scoring Fischer.
Springfield got an infield single from Brandon Wilhelmi for their second hit of the night in the top of the ninth, but were unable to answer the Brewer's run in the previous half-inning, falling 1-0.
Brandon Wilhelmi and Matt Vogel had Springfield's two hits in the game. Aaron Pfaff led the way with two of New Ulm's four hits. Chris Cariveau earned the complete game, shutout victory, allowing just two hits, while striking out two and walking two. Dayton Larson took the heartbreaking loss, going the distance for Springfield, allowing one run on just four hits with two strikeouts, but four walks.
The loss drops the Tigers to 2-2 in the Region 2C Tournament and 20-14 overall on the year. New Ulm finishes the tournament with a 3-2 record. Springfield wraps up tournament play on Saturday night when they host Lamberton at Riverside Park. Sleepy Eye defeated Leavenworth in the other Friday night game. Just one other tournament matchup remains with Sleepy Eye hosting Stark at 2pm on Saturday afternoon. If Sleepy Eye wins, Stark will be eliminated and the Tigers will clinch. If Stark wins, a Tiger victory would eliminate them, but set-up a 4-way tie at 3-2 to be broken on Sunday. Come on down to the ballpark Saturday night and see how things play out! Go Tigers!
NOTES: All four of the Tiger's region games have been decided by one run...New Ulm's eighth inning run was the first earned run allowed by their draftees in the region tournament. Springfield's draftees couldn't be much better. They have thrown a combined eighteen innings, giving up ten hits and just three runs, one earned...In their two games this season at Johnson Park, the Tigers have managed just three total hits...The game was the quickest of the year for Springfield, played in about one and one half hours.
Scorecard
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| New Ulm | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menage, RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wilhelmi, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Fink, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sturm, 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Ma. Salazar, DH | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Larson, P | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Loomis, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Scheffler, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vogel, 3B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Vanderwerf, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 29 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Larson (L, 1-1) | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
Pictures
