Brownton Sends Tigers to Loser’s Bracket (--by Brett Kruschke)
Last year, the Tigers entered the playoffs with a 2-0 regular season record against their first opponent, Winthrop, before getting clobbered at home and dispatched to the loser’s bracket. This year, the Tigers opened at home with a 2-0 regular season mark against Brownton and – you guessed it – got bumped to the loser’s bracket with a 4-3 loss on Friday.
Last year, the Tigers followed up their opening defeat with a surreal loss to Waconia, ending the season; this year, the Tigers have so far taken the first of three necessary steps to advance, beating Gaylord 13-3 on Sunday. Last night, the Tigers hosted Winthrop; if you need a score before next week’s paper, go to www.bptigertown.com.
With the double-elimination format, the Tigers needed a win last night and again on Thursday, or the season is kaput. If the Tigers prevailed last night, they will play at St. Peter or at Brownton on Thursday (7:30 pm) for the right to advance to the Region 4C playoffs, beginning August 6 th in Belle Plaine. First however, a seeding game would take place this Saturday for the CCL-White championship; if Belle Plaine is participating, that too will be on the road, at either St. Peter or Brownton. Game time is 2:00 pm. Please refer to the attached bracket, or the team website, for full details.
Brownton 4 @ Tigers 3 (Friday, July 22)
| 7/22/05 | 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
| Brownton | 1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
0 |
| Belle Plaine | 0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
As mentioned earlier, the Tiger Train beat the Bruins twice this season, by scores of 9-3 and 11-6. That and a dollar seventy-five will get you a cup of coffee, as the Tigers knew too well.
The hometown team had the man they wanted on the hill in Dave Kreft, he of the 5-1 record and airtight 1.77 ERA. However, the game’s first hitter, Jake Maurer, drew a free pass, and came around to score on a two-out throwing error. It was one of five walks Kreft would issue, although his bottom line of two earned runs in seven innings was still very solid.
The Tigers knotted things up in the second when Dan Weldon doubled, and Scotty “Too Hottie” Schaffler singled him in. Things remained tied at one until Ryan Hansch led off the sixth with a circuit blast, and an RBI single by 9-hitter Bryant Norby made it 3-1 for the Bruins after five and a half.
Tigertown restored the roar in the bottom of the frame, tying it up on a two-run single by Pat Schultz, after Kreft and “The Dhaen Train” – Mike Dhaene – opened the inning with base hits. Schultz was sacrificed to second, but a pair of strikeouts ended the inning.
The seventh was the death knell for the Tigers. A botched fly ball put the leadoff runner on, and it would soon hurt as a needless two-out throwing error allowed the eventual winning-run to score, making it 4-3 Brownton.
The Tigers still had nine outs to mount a rally, but went 1-2-3 in the seventh and eighth. In the ninth, Schaffler was beaned and with two outs, Zip Zellmann worked a walk after a long at-bat, to put runners at first and second. A base hit could tie it, but a pop-out ended it, sending Belle Plaine to the ill-fated left-side of the playoff bracket.
Bruins’ chucker Nick Heller had a solid outing, going the distance while striking out nine with only one walk. He allowed only six hits.
| Belle Plaine TIGERS (14-19) | ||||||
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
BB |
Avg. |
|
| Huber, lf | 4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.288 |
| Kreft, p-3b | 4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.188 |
| Kruschke, pr | 0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
| Dhaene, ss | 4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.333 |
| P. Schultz, c | 4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.351 |
| Weldon, cf | 3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.318 |
| Schaffler, 1b | 3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.297 |
| Schuneman, pr | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.196 |
| Witt, rf | 3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.183 |
| Hartmann, ph | 1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.152 |
| Zellmann, dh | 3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.212 |
| J. Schulz, 3b | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.250 |
| S. Hofmann, rf | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.179 |
| M. Schultz, pr | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
| A. Hoffman, 2b | 3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.213 |
| TOTALS | 32 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
.188 |
| 2B – Huber, Weldon. 3B – none. HR – none. | ||||||
| HBP – Schaffler, A.Hoffman. SB – Dhaene. | ||||||
| Pitcher | IP |
H |
R/ER |
BB/K |
NP |
ERA |
| Kreft (L, 5-2) | 7 |
7 |
4/2 |
5/4 |
120 |
1.86 |
| Witt | 2 |
1 |
0/0 |
2/1 |
35 |
0.00 |
Tigers 13 @ Gaylord 3 (Sunday, July 24 – 8 innings)
| 7/24/05 | 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
R |
H |
E |
| Belle Plaine | 2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
13 |
19 |
1 |
| Gaylord | 1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
9 |
3 |
Gaylord finished 3-14 and in last place in the CCL-White, but one of those three was a 6-5 win over the Tigers just two weeks ago, so Belle Plaine was taking nothing for granted on this hot afternoon.
Then, there was no roof on the visiting dugout, and the Tigers finished with a paltry three hits. On this day, the Schultz Roofing Co. of Belle Plaine strapped a tarp to the still-agape dugout, and the Tigers finished with 19 hits. That’s one high-quality tarp.
Shane Hofmann wasn’t sure if he should start in centerfield or at shortstop, so settled for the pitcher’s mound, and held a 2-1 lead after three. The Tigers added single runs in the fourth and fifth, while the Islanders nabbed one back in the fifth to make it 4-2. From that point on though, it was all Tigers.
The Big Grr batted ten in the sixth, scoring four times. After a quiet seventh, they batted ten again, plating five runs to make it 13-3. A quick Mike Schultz-inning in the eighth ended the game via the ten-run rule.
The Tigers lashed out 19 bleeders on the day, as every starter except one had a hit. Dan Weldon, Dan Huber, and Scott Schaffler collected three rips each on the day. Huber drove in four runs for the second time in less than two weeks, out of his beloved five-hole.
Judging by pictures and conversation after the ballgame, it appeared to be the end for a lot of Gaylord veterans, including Dan “Hambone” Hamann, who will be missed.
| Belle Plaine TIGERS (15-19) | ||||||
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
BB |
Avg. |
|
| Weldon, cf | 6 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
.333 |
| Kreft, 3b | 4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
.206 |
| Dhaene, ss | 5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
.336 |
| P. Schultz, c | 4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
.356 |
| Huber, dh | 5 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
.300 |
| S. Hofmann, p | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.179 |
| M. Schultz, p | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
| Schaffler, 1b | 4 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
.342 |
| Hartmann, rf | 5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.158 |
| Schuster, lf | 4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.260 |
| Zellmann, ph | 1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.226 |
| Hoffman, 2b | 3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.200 |
| Witt, ph | 1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.192 |
| TOTALS | 42 |
13 |
19 |
12 |
4 |
.452 |
| 2B – P.Schultz. 3B – none. HR – none. | ||||||
| HBP –Kreft, Schaffler. SB –Weldon, P.Schultz, Huber. | ||||||
| Pitcher | IP |
H |
R/ER |
BB/K |
NP |
ERA |
| S. Hofmann (W, 2-4) | 7 |
9 |
3/3 |
0/4 |
93 |
4.29 |
| M. Schultz | 1 |
0 |
0/0 |
0/0 |
9 |
4.93 |
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.