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Larson and Errors Too Much for Tigers

7/19/13

Springfield and Hanska went into Friday night tied for second place in the National Division of the Tomahawk East with a 13-7 record. The Tigers have not had much luck at Hanska's Hanlin Field in recent years, having lost four straight there coming into the contest. Dayton Larson's pitching and poor Tiger defense meant Springfield dropped their fifth in a row in Hanska, 5-1.

The Lakers grabbed a lead in their first at-bat. Kevin Larson led off with a bunt base hit. Brady Mosenden replaced Larson on a fielder's choice. Eric Portner drove in Hanska's first run when he found the right-center field gap for a double, advancing to third on an error.

With one out in the fourth, Cole Milbrath was hit by a pitch. Alex Fink followed with a base hit and advanced to second when the Lakers threw to third base. It seemed like the perfect scoring opportunity. Springfield had just one out, runners at second and third, and cleanup hitter Ryan Sturm at the plate. Sturm couldn't have hit the ball any harder, but it was a laser right to the glove of the pitcher, who threw to third for an inning-ending double play.

Christian Loomis drew a lead-off walk to start the fifth. A sac bunt moved him into scoring position and Marc Salazar came through with a single to knot the game at one.

After surrendering the first inning run, Wilhelmi kept the Lakers off balance and off the scoreboard. He was cruising along, getting the first two outs in the bottom of the fifth. A two-out walk to Derek Wilfahrt should have been no trouble, but a pair of Tiger errors extended the inning as the Lakers took advantage to score a couple runs, gaining a 3-1 lead.

Hanska made Springfield pay for another miscue to start the home half of the seventh when they tallied their fourth run. A hit batter to start the eighth, followed by a sac bunt and two singles gave the Lakers an insurance run with the score 5-1.

Other than a single by Loomis in the seventh, followed by a walk to Matt Vogel, the Tigers never put together another threat. In fact, Larson retired the side in order in three of the final four innings to wrap up the victory.

Springfield had just three hits on the night, one each by Alex Fink, Christian Loomis, and Marc Salazar. Jason Retzlaff led the Lakers with three hits. Eric Portner also had a solid night at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three runs batted in. Dayton Larson earned the complete game win, his second against the Tigers this year, giving up one run on three hits with seven strikeouts. Brandon Wilhelmi took the hard-luck loss, going the distance for the visitors, allowing five runs, two earned, on eight hits with seven Ks.

The loss drops the Tigers to 15-11 overall and 13-8 in league play on the year. It also sets up the playoff matchups in the National Division. Hanska's victory clinched them second place. Springfield will be the third seed and will begin a best-of-three playoff series at home on Friday, July 26th against the fourth seed Essig Bluejays. First, they'll wrap up regular season action on Sunday night when they host Stark at 7:30pm. The Tigers will also celebrate Merchant's Night, a Thank You to all their great sponsors. See you at the yard!

NOTES: Springfield's last win in Hanska came in 2008. Prior to that win, 2003 was the year of the last Tiger victory at Hanlin Field...Unearned runs have victimized the Tiger pitching staff recently. Opponents have scored 34 runs in the last 8 games. 17 of those runs, exactly half, have been unearned. The Tiger's record over the last eight games is 4-4...Hanlin Field is sporting new grass in the infield since the Tigers last visited. They now have grass baselines, similar to St. James...The Springfield Legion Baseball team pulled out a 4-3 playoff win in 8 innings over St. James at Irish Yard near Vesta. The guys then hustled over to Hanska and made appearances late in the ballgame.


Scorecard


Linescore

123456789RHELOB
Springfield0000100001343
Hanska10002011x5809

Springfield Box

ABRHRBIBBSO 
Wilhelmi, P400000 
C. Milbrath, CF200000HP
   Vanderwerf, CF------ 
   Anderson, PH100001 
Fink, SS401000 
Sturm, 1B400001 
Loomis, 2B211010 
   Scheffler, 2B------ 
Vogel, 3B100010SAC
Ma. Salazar, LF301100 
Mx. Salazar, RF200001 
   Menage, RF100001 
Bisel, C300003 
 2713127 
        
 IPHRERBBSO 
Wilhelmi (L, 5-3)8 85227

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