Tiger Bats Roll Over Sleepy Eye
6/29/07
The Tiger bats have been on a roll as of late and that roll continued on Friday night in Sleepy Eye, where the Tigers stroked 13 hits on their way to dropping the Indians, 9-3. After struggling offensively early in the year, Springfield has really been hitting the ball. This game marked the sixth straight game in which the Tigers had ten or more hits.
Matt Tews took the hill for the Tigers. He was staked to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, as Tiger shortstop, Kyle Kraska, led off with a double, off the wall, under the scoreboard in right-centerfield. Matt Baier followed with a base hit. Baier stole second and Bob Fink drove in the game's first run with a groundout to third base. Sleepy Eye evened the score in the bottom of the first, getting two hits and taking advantage of two Tiger errors to make the score 1-1.
Both teams exchanged zeros on the board until the bottom of the fourth. After two were out, Tews experienced some uncharacteristic wildness and Sleepy Eye scored two runs on a walk, two singles and a wild pitch. Tews worked his way out of the inning with a strike out. The Tigers wouldn't trail for long, as they batted seven and scored three in the top of the fifth. Springfield had hits from Tews, Kraska, Baier, and Brady Schwab to score the runs, bringing the tally to 4-3.
Springfield didn't sit back after gaining the lead. They added a run in the sixth on a lead-off single by Brandon Wilhelmi and a single run on the eighth when pinch-runner Bill Roiger came around to score on a Kraska base hit. After working through the tough fourth, Tews settled down and faced just one batter over the minimum during his final four innings of work.
The Tigers led 6-3 going into the ninth and Jesse Berg sealed the deal. Springfield got the bases loaded with one out, on two hits and a walk, when Berg came to the plate and drove a bases clearing double to the right-center gap, giving the Tigers a six-run lead at 9-3. Wilhelmi came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth finishing things up for Springfield.
The win moves the Tigers' record to 10-6 on the season. Perhaps more impressively, it moves their road record to 6-2, with their only loses being 3-1 at Redwood Falls and 1-0 at Hanska. Springfield returns to action on Sunday evening in a make-up game of the rained-out season opener against Leavenworth at home. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30pm.
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
| Springfield | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 13 | 2 | 9 |
| Sleepy Eye | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 5 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | |
| Kraska, SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Baier, LF/CF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Schwab, 2B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Haseleu, PR/2B | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fink, RF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandl, RF | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| R. Sturm, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Wilhelmi, CF/P | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Berg, 3B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Krebs, PR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tews, P/LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Roiger, PR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Moritz, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 41 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 5 | |
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Tews (W, 4-2) | 8 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Wilhelmi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pictures
