Have Won 5 of the Last 7 (--by Brett Kruschke)
The pride of TigerTown went 2-2 in the Carver Central over the last week, bringing their record to 4-6 in league play, and 9-14 overall. The Tigers have won five of their last seven after starting the season a rugged 2-9.
Belle Plaine lost a heartbreaker to first-place St. Peter last Tuesday, 6-5, when the Saints scored two in the eighth to steal the game. On Thursday, Team Tigertown downed Gaylord 6-4; on Sunday, the locals rallied for five in the ninth to beat Carver 9-5, while losing that same evening at Jordan, 5-2.
Last night, the locals traveled to Brownton; check www.bptigertown.com or next week’s Herald for results. Tomorrow night (Thursday), El Tigre welcomes St. Patrick for a 7:30 pm duel. After taking some time off over the holiday, Belle Plaine will face Brownton again, this time at home, 7:30 pm on Tuesday, July 5 th.
BP 5 @ St. Peter 6 (Tuesday, June 21 st)
The Tigers were ready to get back to league action after seven consecutive non-league games, spanning two tournaments. The St. Peter Saints entered at 4-4 in the five-team CCL-White – good enough for first place and a one-game lead over the second-place Tigers (2-4).
El Tigre scored 24 runs over their previous two contests, and came in winners of three straight. That run-scoring deluge continued when the Tigers jumped on Saints starter Jeff Gilbertson for three in the first, including five hits and back-to-back RBI doubles by Pat Schultz and Ryan Witt.
After four games on the three-day weekend, manager Shane Hofmann turned to one of the Tigers all-time pitching greats, Zip Zellmann. It was the tall lefty’s first start of the year.
Mike Dhaene delivered a run-scoring single in the fourth to make it 5-3 Tigers, already his third hit of the game at that juncture. From there on, both pitchers tightened up and the song remained the same until St. Peter scratched for an unearned run in the seventh, making it 5-4.
Zellmann started the eighth, but was gone after its first batter, a full count walk to slugger Mike Newman. The “tangy Zip of Miracle Whip” yielded only five hits, while striking out seven. “I’m throwin’ everything I’ve got at ‘em, skipper,” Zellmann said. To which ManagerHofmann replied, “Great game, Harris.”
On came “Super” Dave Feldt, who recorded the first out on a sacrifice bunt, runner moving to second. The next batter popped out to Feldt, and two were gone. The next batter grounded to third, where Ryan Witt fielded cleanly, but skipped the throw past first baseman Zellmann as the tying run scored, with the go-ahead run moving to second.
A base hit to left by eight-hitter Ryan Werner then made it 6-5, giving the Saints their first lead. Three outs later, the Tigers were forced to swallow the bitter pill of defeat.
Gaylord 4 @ BP 6 (Thursday, June 23)
The Tigers opened the scoring with four in the third inning, sending eight men to the plate against Islanders starter Brian Rodning. In the fourth, the Tigers tacked on two more, courtesy of a Dan Huber two-run blast. After predicting a homer in his previous 71 at-bats this year, it finally came true!
Tiger pitcher Mike Schultz took a 6-0 lead to the sixth, but would be forced to exit before the inning was out, thanks to a four-run Gaylord uprising. Ryan Witt came on in relief, and took it all the way home with 3.1 scoreless frames, garnering his second save.
Gaylord’s Dan “Hambone” Hamann came in relief and chucked 3.1 innings of scoreless ball, the equivalent of Wayne Terwilliger throwing a no-hitter in batting practice. We love you though, Hambone.
Shortstop Mike Dhaene collected three of the home team’s seven hits, his second three-hit effort in a row; he also stole two of the Tigers’ six bases on the night.
BP 9 @ Carver 5 (Sunday, June 26)
El Tigre had a road doubleheader on Sunday, playing Carver at 1:00 pm and Jordan at 6:00 pm. Perhaps we should have kept the T-Road Bus for another day, to assist us on this rare road trip. Nonetheless, off to Pocket Gopher Park the Tigers went.
Carver entered with an 0-12 record in CCL-play, and the Tigers were hoping not to be their first victim. With that information as a backdrop, the Black Sox carried a 5-4 lead into the ninth inning. Things looked bleak for Tigertown’s warriors.
Adam Hoffman opened the ninth by reaching on an error by shortstop Kevin Kimmes, an omen of things to come. He was sacrificed to second, and with first base open Pat Schultz collected his fourth hit of the day, a scorched single to right field to tie it up at five apiece.
Then the wheels came off for the Black Sox, as the Tigers scored four more runs without a hit the remainder of the way. That’s right – there were three walks, a hit batsman, and Carver’s seventh error of the game. As the Tigers had four miscues of their own, I don’t need to tell you this was an ugly one.
Ryan Witt was again the Tiger’s savior on the mound, working the final 2.1 innings to gain his first win in relief of Jonny Schulz. In 11.2 innings this year, he has yet to allow an earned run, and has walked only one batter.
BP 2 @ Jordan 5 (Sunday, June 26)
Not to beat a dead horse, but the Tigers have played short-handed quite a bit lately (and yes I do realize this is the official battle cry of most amateur-ball teams). Belle Plaine went into Larca Park without four starters: Dave Kreft, Dan Weldon, Ryan Witt, and the “All I do is get on base” #9-hitter, Nick Volek, not to mention the potent bat of Nate Hartmann, who’s been out for a while now with a cast on his foot. Throw in the fact that (self-proclaimed) ace Shane Hofmann hasn’t pitched since May 20 due to an arm injury, and you’re starting to get my drift.
This game had a weird overtone to it from the get-go, as the Tigers faced their centerfielder of the previous 14 years, Trace Selly, who swatted all five brush-back pitches into the air to complete an 0-for-5 evening. Delving deep into the boxscore, Tiger right-fielders Brad Connolly and Zip Zellmann combined to go only 0-for-4 on the night. Advantage, Tigers! (Just kidding, Sell!)
Team Tigertown struck first on a second-inning single by Scott Schaffler, as Dan Huber slid in just ahead of the tag at home plate.
Pitcher Dan Huber was finally touched for two in the fourth, sandwiched between a leadoff walk and an error in the outfield. That made it 2-1 Brewers, and they would stretch it to 5-1 in the fifth when third baseman Paul “Gilly” Buss atoned for an earlier error and stroked a three-run double.
Huber went on to close Jordan out over the final three innings, but the BP bats could only muster one more run – on an eighth-inning single by Tim Schuster – despite the fact that the Tigers out-hit the Brewers 11-10 on the day.
This page was created and maintained by Nick Kornder, Sports Information Director at Northern State University. The views and ideas on this page are that of the author, and not those of Northern State University.