Tigers Defeat Martins in Rain-Delayed Battle

6/7/09

Springfield's second game in the Omann Insurance Invitational had them matched up against their 2008 second round opponent, St. Martin. A much needed steady rain was coming down at game time causing a half-hour delay of the game's start. Field conditions deteriorated quickly and the game was suspended with no one out in the bottom of the first. Play continued on Sunday morning at 10am. It was a see-saw battle that finally saw the Tigers explode for seven runs in the first extra inning to come away with a 14-7 victory.

Brandon Wilhelmi led the game off with a walk. Matt Baier followed getting on base via an error on an attempted sacrifice bunt. Ryan Sturm got the Tigers on the board driving in Wilhelmi with a ground out. Marc Salazar drove in Springfield's second run when he smashed a double. St. Martin went right to work in the bottom of the first off Springfield starter Brandon Wilhelmi. The Martins put together a double, walk and a single, plating one run before the game was suspended. When the game resumed on Sunday morning, St. Martin got a sacrifice fly and an RBI base hit to take a 3-2 lead.

St. Martin put together two doubles and a single to score two more runs in the bottom of the third, pushing their lead to three at 5-2. The fourth saw the Martins get a single followed by a double to push the score to 6-2. The Tiger bats were kept quiet in the second through the fifth innings with the Martins stater facing just two batters over the minimum.

In the top of the sixth, the Springfield offense came alive as they batted around putting together six hits and taking advantage of a walk and St. Martin error to take a 7-6 lead. After giving up the run in the fourth, Wilhelmi settled in to retire eight straight Martins going into the bottom of the seventh. The streak was broken as the Martins' lead-off hitter deposited a 3-1 pitch over the right-center field fence to tie the game at seven.

Brent Weber drew a lead-off base on balls in the top of the eighth. A sacrifice bunt moved him up to second. After a strike-out, the Tigers were down to their last out, but they would bat nine before the Martins were able to get the final out of the inning. Springfield took advantage of three straight walks, followed by RBI hits from Chris Sturm, Marc Salazar, and Weber to score seven runs and put the game out of reach.

Brandon Wilhelmi picked up the complete game victory, settling in after a rough start. Marc Salazar led the Tiger offense with three hits and five runs batted in. Ryan Sturm and Chris Sturm each added two hits, while Wilhelmi, Matt Baier, Brent Weber, Marty Brandl, and Matt Tews contributed one hit each to the Tigers' twelve hit attack. The win put Springfield in the fifth place game and a match-up against Lastrup in Sartell.


Linescore

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E LOB
Springfield 2 0 0 0 0 5 0 7 14 12 0 7
St. Martin 3 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 7 11 3 5

Springfield Box

AB R H RBI BB SO
B. Wilhelmi, P 3 2 1 1 2 0
Baier, SS 3 2 1 1 1 0 2B, SAC
R. Sturm, 3B 4 2 2 1 1 1 2B
C. Sturm, CF 5 2 2 1 0 0 2B
Salazar, 1B 4 1 3 5 0 0 2B(2), HP
Milbrath, LF 1 0 0 0 0 0
   A. Wilhelmi, LF 4 1 0 0 0 0
   Nachreiner, LF - - - - - -
Weber, RF 3 2 1 1 2 1 2B
Brandl, DH 3 1 1 1 1 1 2B, SAC
Miesen, C - - - - - -
Tews, 2B 5 1 1 1 0 1
35 14 12 12 7 4
IP H R ER BB SO
Wilhelmi (W, 2-0) 8    11 7 7 2 9

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