French One-Hits Springfield
7/14/13
Springfield traveled to Johnson Park on Sunday night for a matchup with the division leading New Ulm Brewers. Through the first four and a half innings there were nothing but zeros on the scoreboard. The Brewers broke it open in the fifth and cruised to a 6-0 win as Wade French flirted with a no-hitter.
Brandon Wilhelmi was on the bump for the Tigers. He got off to a flawless start, retiring the first thirteen New Ulm batters to step to the plate. Meanwhile, French kept Springfield hitless, though he did allow single base runners in the second through the fourth innings.
A one-out Tiger error in the bottom of the fifth opened the door for the Brewers and they took advantage in a big way. Chris Peters ripped an RBI double. Zach Hoffmann followed with a single. A two-out walk loaded the bases. The New Ulm order turned over and Garrett Fischer smoked a two-run double. A wild pitch gave the Brewers their fourth run of the inning.
Wilhelmi allowed a leadoff double to Cory Ranweiler in the home half of the sixth. He battled to get the next two outs before issuing a walk that ended his night. Jason Nachreiner took over on the hill. He got out of the inning when Zach Bisel threw out a runner attempting to steal second on the first pitch.
Nachreiner worked a three-up, three-down seventh. Christian Loomis then came on for the eighth inning. He got off to a rough start, allowing three straight hits. A pair of wild pitches extended the Brewer lead to six. Loomis then found his groove, striking out two of the next three batters.
French took his no-hitter into the ninth inning. He did a great job keeping the Tigers off-balance with a mix of pitches. After the first two outs were recorded, Jacob Menage broke it up with a base hit. A fielder's choice followed to make it a 6-0 final.
Jacob Menage had the only Springfield hit on the night. Garrett Fischer and Cory Ranweiler led the Brewers with two hits each, both with a double. Wade French earned the complete game win, allowing just one hit while striking out eleven. Brandon Wilhelmi took the loss, going five and two-thirds innings, giving up four unearned runs, on four hits with one strikeout.
The loss puts the Springfield record at 14-10 overall and 12-7 in league play. The Tigers will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday night when they head to Searles to tangle with the Grizzlies. Go Tigers!
NOTES: Springfield's eleven strikeouts was their first double-digit K total since the final game of the St. Stephen/Sartell tournament...The Tigers have struggled in recent years at New Ulm's Johnson Park, posting just one win there since 2003...Manager Steve Helget was absent from the ballgame. He was back in Springfield coaching his son Tori's Rookie League team to the championship of this weekend's tournament...New Ulm's win clinched first place in the National Division of the Tomahawk East League.
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 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| New Ulm | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | x | 6 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
Springfield Box
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilhelmi, P/2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Anderson, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Menage, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Fink, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Sturm, 1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Loomis, DH/P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | SAC |
| Vanderwerf, CF | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Nachreiner, P | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Vogel, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Ma. Salazar, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| C. Milbrath, LF | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Bisel, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Scheffler, 2B/CF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | HP |
| Brandl, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||
| Wilhelmi (L, 5-2) | 5 2/3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Nachreiner | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Loomis | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Pictures
