New Prague Ends Springfield's Season

8/18/13

When the Tigers took the field at Maple Lake on Sunday it was the 28th time Springfield has been represented in the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament. The weather was perfect and the ballpark was in great shape, but this time it just wasn't meant to be as Springfield fell behind in the bottom of the first and lost to the New Prague Orioles, 8-1.

New Prague sent Dusty Beckius to the mound. Alex Fink ripped a two-out single and Ryan Sturm drew a walk, but the Tigers were unable to get on the board in the first.

Springfield gave Dayton Larson, draftee from Hanska , the ball. He hit Dan Shetka with a pitch. Larson coaxed a possible double-play ball that would have ended the inning. Unfortunately, a Tiger error put two on for New Prague. The Orioles took advantage of the opportunity with hits from three of the next four batters, dropping a three-spot on Springfield.

As they have done all season, the Tigers battled back in their next at-bat. Back-to-back hits from Cooper Scheffler and Matt Vogel, followed by a walk by Jacob Vanderwerf loaded the bases. Jacob Menage lifted a sacrifice fly to left to cut the deficit to two.

Fink started the third with a two-bagger that two-hopped the left field fence. It seemed Springfield was going to continue to chip away at the New Prague lead. Fink stole third and Marc Salazar lifted a fly ball to centerfield. The Oriole's centerfielder, Austin Bachman, showed off his arm by throwing out Fink at the plate to end the inning, as he attempted to score via the sac fly.

After Fink's double in the third, Beckius retired the next eight batters in order to complete five innings. Larson also found a groove after the rough first, putting up zeros in the second through fourth innings.

A leadoff walk to Justin Novak in the fifth, followed by steals of second and third, gave New Prague a runner at third. Bachman dropped in a base hit to make the score 4-1.

Both teams went to the bullpen after their starters completed five innings. New Prague turned to draftee from Prior Lake, Ben Morrison. Springfield turned the mound duties over to Brandon Wilhelmi. The relievers matched each other zero for zero in the sixth and seventh.

Menage stroked a one-out single in the eighth for Springfield's first hit off Morrison. Fink followed with a single to put runners on the corners, but the Tigers were unable to get back on the scoreboard.

It was clear that it was not to be Springfield's day in the bottom of the eighth. New Prague put together five hits, including back-to-back infield singles from pinch hitters to plate three runs. With two down, Jason Nachreiner took over on the mound. A wild pitch gave the Orioles their fourth run of the inning increasing their lead to seven, before a pop out stopped the bleeding.

Morrison retired the side in order the top of the ninth to end Springfield's season and secure the 8-1 win.

Alex Fink accounted for half of Springfield's hits with three on the day. Jacob Menage, Cooper Scheffler, and Matt Vogel added one each to the Tiger total. New Prague had at least one hit from seven of their starters. Austin Bachman and Aaron Shetka led the way with two apiece. Dusty Beckius picked up the win going five innings, allowing one run on four hits with one strikeout. Dayton Larson took the loss, also working five innings, allowing four runs, two earned, on five hits with four strikeouts. Ben Morrison picked up a four inning save, allowing just two hits, while tallying two strikeouts.

The Tigers end the 2013 season with a 20-16 overall record. Unfortunately, losing their final four games. Best of luck to the New Prague Orioles as they move on to the second weekend of the tournament and a matchup against Plato. The Tigers would like to thank everyone who made 2013 a great season for Springfield Baseball! Thanks to draftees Dayton Larson, Eric Portner, and Caleb Hillesheim for their contributions! Thanks to all the fans for their great support! The future looks bright for this young Tiger squad and this year's experience should be a great stepping-stone to more great times at the ballpark! See you in 2014!

NOTES: 2013 marked the 90th annual Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament. With their 28 appearances, Springfield has been represented in nearly 1/3 of the tournaments...After winning five out of six, the Tigers hit the skids in their final four games, losing all of them and scoring just two runs in their final three losses...The Tigers had a bad habit of falling behind at the end of the season. In their nine postseason games, Springfield scored first just once. The Tigers finish the season with a 5-14 record when their opponents scored first. Getting an early lead was huge for Springfield as they finished with a 15-2 mark when scoring first...36 games is the most played in a season by the Tigers since they played 38 in 1999...Marty Brandl was the only player to be present for all 36. Manager Steve Helget, Christian Loomis, and Matt Vogel all missed just one game on the season.

Scorecard

• Sunday, August 18, 2013 - Springfield vs New Prague (at Maple Lake) (PDF)

Linescore

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
Springfield	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	3	6
New Prague	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	x	8	10	0	6

Springfield Box

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
Menage, RF	3	0	1	1	0	0	SAC
Wilhelmi, C/P	4	0	0	0	0	0
Nachreiner, P	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fink, SS	4	0	3	0	0	0	2B
Sturm, 1B	3	0	0	0	1	1
Ma. Salazar, DH	4	0	0	0	0	1
Larson, P	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bisel, C	-	-	-	-	-	-
Loomis, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1
Scheffler, LF	4	1	1	0	0	0
Vogel, 3B	3	0	1	0	0	0
Vanderwerf, CF	1	0	0	0	1	0
Mx. Salazar, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0
Frank, CF	-	-	-	-	-	-
	31	1	6	1	2	3
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Larson (L, 1-2)	5	5	4	2	2	4
Wilhelmi	2 2/3	5	4	3	0	3
Nachreiner	1/3	0	0	0	0	0

Pictures