--by Brett Kruschke
Carver 2 @ Tigers 0 (Tuesday, July 25)
The Black Sox’ soft-tossing Joe Campbell threw a complete game shutout,
ending Tiger hopes of a run to the Regional playoffs, and, their season. “Smilin’
Joe” yielded seven hits and worked out of trouble on several occassions,
much to the chagrin of the Tigers’ Hack Attack. The left-hander struck
out six and more importantly, didn’t walk a batter.
The Tigers opened the playoffs on Friday with a 3-0 win over Carver, thanks to a complete game shutout by the high-handed ace himself, Shane Hofmann. And it was Hofmann again, on three days rest, to see if he could pull the trick one more time.
He gave up two runs – one earned – in seven innings of work, a so-called “quality start” by modern standards (in the old days, you had to throw back-to-back no-hitters on the same day, just to get credit for one). Hofmann’s combined line of 16 innings and one earned run looks all-the-more impressive when you consider that in-between these Tiger matchups, Carver out-slugged the Winthrop Lumber Company by the staggering score of 20-17. That’s right – Carver beat Winthrop 20 to 17!
Carver put across the game’s first run in the fifth, an unearned run thanks to a Tiger error. They would add one more in the 6th for a 2-0 lead, and the final margin of victory. Belle Plaine tallied three errors on the night, while the Sox played gaffe-free ball.
El Tigre knocked on the door several times but couldn’t break through, leaving five runners in scoring position through the first six innings. After that, “Joe Camel” retired 10 of Belle Plaine’s last 11 batters, the only interruption a two-out single in the seventh.
Hofmann gave way to Ryan Witt on the mound, who fanned four batters in his two innings of scoreless work.
There are no excuses come playoff time (the rest of the year – heck yes!), but Team Tigertown was missing three starters in Pat Schultz, Dave Kreft, and Adam Hoffman. And when you’ve lost 13 of 15 coming into the game, that’s probably not a good thing.
It did allow the Tigers to showcase their “Infield of the Future” (Team Dippin’ Dots – see boxscore), as the average age around the horn was 17 years old. Despite a combined three errors, they did not receive the dreaded “NC-17” rating. Rather, their futures are so bright, fans in the front row are advised to wear eye black next year.
After beating Belle Plaine, Carver went on to beat Waconia 9-8 to advance to Regional play for the first time “since the mid-80’s”, said a Carver source. The game was played Thursday night, at Tiger Park. The #4-seeded Black Sox trailed 7-1 in the 7th, before mounting the improbable comeback over the #1-seeded Lakers, sending them home.
Brownton then beat Carver 6-2 on Saturday to claim the CCL-Red championship and the CCL-Red’s #1 seed heading to Region 6C play. Carver is the #2 seed from the CCL-Red. Le Sueur is the #1 seed from the CCL-White, and Arlington the #2 seed. These four CCL teams will meet up with #1 seed Union Hill and #2 seed St. Patrick of the DRS-Blue, to complete the six-team Region 6C bracket. (See bracket accompanying story, or visit www.bptigertown.com, where updates will be posted.)
In the CCL-Red draft, Brownton went first and selected pitcher Rob Wagener of Waconia. Carver took pitcher Shane Hofmann of the Tigers with their first pick; Brownton countered with Tiger catcher Pat Schultz. Finally, Carver went pitching again with Tiger hurler Mike Schultz. Tigertown is proud to send these three players on to Regions! Hopefully next year, the rest of the team will go with them.
You won’t have to travel far to keep tabs on your Tigers (Mike and Shane, anyway), as Carver will once again use Tiger Park as their home field tonight (Wednesday), at 7:30 pm, when they take on the Arlington A’s. Hofmann is expected to get the ball tonight in the opener, according to Carver manager Mike Sparrow. (Insert “Wohler to Start for Marshall” joke here.)
The Tigers won three of their first four out of the gate, and sat at 7-7 at the season’s halfway point. However, that’s when the wheels feel off, as El Tigre lost 12 of their final 13 regular season games.
The Red Caps opened the playoffs with a 3-0 win over Carver and nearly topped #1 seed Waconia, losing 4-3 in the ninth. A 2-0 loss to Regional quailifer Carver ended the season.
In CCL ‘C’ games, Belle Plaine went 3-9 but was outscored just 61-45, a total of 16 runs over 12 games. The locals lost four league games but one run, and three non-league games by one run. The Tigers feel they had a better season than their record indicated, but also must learn how to win close ballgames and prove it on the field.
Perhaps another year under the belts will do that, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Tigers did christen six rookies this year. In fact, 13 of the Tigers’ 22-man roster has played three years or less. A 9-21 record (4-13 CCL) might lead someone to say, “Now I know why tigers eat their young!” but the ball club is optimistic as they look forward to next year.
Individually, Nate Hartmann (.346) edged Pat Schultz (.343) for the team batting crown, no small feat as Schultz has won it two of the previous three years. Matt Schultz hit .355, but did not have enough at-bats to qualify (11-for-31; see – rookies get hosed at every opportunity on this team.)
It’s not exactly Denny McClain’s 1968 win total, but Shane Hofmann led the staff with three victories and also took the team ERA title at 2.36. He may well have completed the triple crown by leading in strikeouts, but I haven’t tabulated those yet. Everything should be up on the website within a week or two, if you care to check it out.
Thanks as always to our fans and those whose hard work make
Tiger baseball possible – we appreciate all your efforts and support.
See you at the ballpark in 2007!
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.