June 21, 2006
By Ryan and Paul Dressen
If there is a noticeable increase in the overall quality of writing in this week’s article, it is due to the fact that the Sid Hartmann of the Belle Plaine Herald, Brett Kruschke, is away at a family reunion in South Dakota. But not to worry, Brett will be back next week.
Your Belle Plaine Town Tigers dropped two out of three this week but did get a big win against CCL powerhouse Brownton. Over the weekend, the Tigers played in the Miller Lite Invitational hosted by Green Isle and Arlington but due to a lack of run support, they made an early exit and only played two games.
The Tiger bats were hot as they clawed out to a large lead early against a solid squadron from Brownton. They managed to hold on to the lead and pick up an important victory against the Bruins that brought the Tigers back to an even 4-4 in the Carver Central League.
It is too bad, however, that the Tigers used all of their hits in the Brownton game as they went a dismal 4-46 (.080) in the Miller Lite Invitational and didn’t even scrape out a single run.
Last night the Tigers traveled to Shakopee to battle the Indians. Details on this game will be in next week’s Herald or can be found on the web at www.bptigertown.com.
Tonight the Tigers will play host to Carver who they lost to on a suicide squeeze last time they faced off. First pitch will be at 7:30 up at Tiger Park.
Sunday Belle Plaine is at Waconia at 2:00 p.m. and while next Tuesday the Tigers will also host Le Sueur for another CCL affair. And again, first pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. as it will be Locher Bros. / Miller Lite Nite at Tiger Park.
Belle Plaine 11, Brownton 7
Crafty veteran Dave Kreft got the nod on the hill for the Tigers and pitched a shade under seven innings, giving up two earned runs and fanning three on his way to the win. Kreft got plenty of run support, which has been a rarity for Kreft thus far this season. The Tigers were swinging hot bats and notched eight runs through the first three innings. Despite what you may have heard, Brett Kruschke and his so-called “Rally Gear” had nothing to do with these runs, although he did look rather ridiculous coming out and congratulating his teammates in brand new, bright red catcher’s gear that he will need a couple more years to grow into.
The Tiger’s had a season high 17 hits. Pat Schultz and Tim Schuster each had three while Ben Jass added two with a bat crafted by his 6 th hour shop class. Jass also pitched two innings in relief and withstood the Brownton surge in the ninth which gave Team Tiger a minor scare.
Watkins 4, Belle Plaine 0 (7 Innings)
The Tigers traveled to Arlington for their first round bout in the Miller Lite Invitational Saturday morning after rain pushed the game back from Friday night. Of the twenty-two man roster, there were eleven Tigers present to battle Watkins.
Pat Schultz was the only offense for the Tigers poking the lone hit for them and getting a walk. Pat even got to second base once. No other tigers reached as Watkins hurler Paul Geislinger, who is one of the five Geislinger brothers on the Watkins team, pitched a complete game one-hitter and fanned seven Belle Plaine batters.
Pitcher Jonny Schulz had a stellar performance on the mound for the Tigers but two errors and no Tiger runs led to him getting the loss in this one.
Fairfax 1, Belle Plaine 0 (7 Innings)
Dave Feldt and his trademark five o-clock shadow made a rare start in the Tigers second game Saturday. With an inexperienced defense behind him, Feldt pitched a gem. He did his job and the untried defense also did theirs, however, once again, the Tiger bats did not. The Tigers had only three hits in the game, two of which were off the bat of Nate Hartmann, and failed to put any numbers in the “runs” column for the second game in a row.
The game was knotted at 0-0 through the top of the seventh until Fairfax strung together a couple of hits to get the deciding run in the bottom of the seventh.
St. Cloud Orthopedic went on to win the 16-team Miller Lite Invitational.
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.