Tigers Split Pair of Road Games
--by guest columnist Jeff Witt
The Tiger 25 split two road games this weekend. Friday evening they got a taste of the State Champion Green Isle Irish Ballclub, while Sunday they ignored their mothers for a couple hours and traveled to Winthrop to take on the club that ended their season last year. Green Isle took it to them by a score of 15-7, but the Tigertown warriors battled back and ate up Winthrop like some Hot Buttered Buns by a score of 20-6.
Belle Plaine resumes action this week with a Friday home game against Mayer. That will start at the unusual time of 8:00 pm. Then they travel west on Highway 212 to take on The Brownton Bears on Sunday. That game will begin at 2:00 pm.
One note: The Sunday, May 23 game at Shakopee (Indians) has been changed to a 1:00 pm start.
The Tiger 25 traveled to Green Isle on Friday to test the defending state champions. They hung with them for 6 innings before the floodgates opened up. The Irish started the scoring in the first inning with RBI singles by Tiger Killer, Mac Zachow and Belle Plaine’s own Tim Luskey. Belle Plaine dented the scoreboard in the second thanks to a two-run homer by yours truly, Jeff Witt. The Irish came back with four more runs off of starter Dave Feldt in the second, with three of the runs coming on a homer from Mike Newman. After putting up an egg in the third, Belle Plaine plated four runs in the fourth with Ryan Witt scorching a two-run homer after Dan Weldon plated one on a double.
The scored remained knotted at six until the home team Irish came to bat in the seventh. There were two out and two men on, when an error loaded the bases and brought said Tiger Killer Zachow up again. Veteran Randy Stender battled with Zachow relentlessly, but Zachow lifted a bases-clearing double on the seventh pitch of the at-bat to dead center field. Two more quick singles plated two more before Stender was replaced by flame throwing James Thomason, who went on to walk the only three batters he faced. Shortstop Adam Hoffman came on to give up two more run scoring singles before striking out Chris Brown to end the inning. All in all, nine runs scored on seven hits and three walks. Not good times. The Tiger Nine added one in the ninth, to make the final 15-7.
The lone batsman with two hits for the Tigers was Dan Weldon. Jeff Witt and Ryan Witt both had homers, while Trace Selly added a double. With everything said, The Irish look poised and ready for a run at the Class B State Tournament, while the Tigers keep looking for John Solheid to make his debut in a Tigers’ uniform.
Belle Plaine 20 Winthrop 6 (7 innings)
After a long day selling advertising for the upcoming State Tournament on Saturday, Belle Plaine celebrated Mothers’ Day by traveling to Winthrop to take on the club that ended their State Tourney run of 2003. Manager Kruschke sent out self-proclaimed “Ace of the Staff” Shane Hofmann to the mound, which turned out to be the easiest decision he made on the day.
Belle Plaine opened up the top half of the first with the first five men reaching safely. Dan Huber walked, stole second, advanced to third on Adam Hoffman’s fielders’ choice, and scored on Trace Selly’s double. Pat Schultz proceeded to walk, and Jeff Witt knocked in Hoffman on an error. Two ground ball outs by Pat Moriarty and Zip Zellmann scored Selly and Schultz, and the Tigers were up 4-0. The second inning was more of the same. With one out, Huber knocked a double in the gap, and Hoffman singled him in. Selly followed with a hit, and Pat Schultz knocked a three-run homer over the right field fence to make the score 8-0. With two outs in the third, Hoffman walked, Selly knocked him in with a double, and Schultz knocked Selly in with another double. “A fight at the batrack” was an understatement in the fourth, with the Tigers sending 12 men to the plate while scoring eight runs. Pat “Tequila Sunrise” Moriarty started the inning with a walk. Zellmann singled and Nate Hartmann doubled in Moriarty. Ryan Witt singled in Zellmann, Dan Huber reached on an error, and back-to-back singles by Hoffman and Selly plated another two. Schultz reached on another Winthrop error, and Jeff Witt followed with a two-run double to end the eight run inning.
Winthrop threw up four runs in the fifth, but the Tigers answered with two of their own. Rookie Tigers Jon Schulz and Tim Schuster gathered their first career hits and RBIs. Ryan Creighton also collected his first career hit. All three are currently eight career hits behind Manager Kruschke.
Shane Hofmann held Winthrop in check for most of the game, going five innings and striking out seven in picking up his second win of the season. Dave Feldt slammed the door shut in the last two innings, giving up two unearned runs, and striking out one.
Hitting leaders for the Tigers on Sunday were Selly (4-4, three RBI), Pat Schultz (3-4, 5 RBI), Adam Hoffman (2-3, 4 runs scored, 2 RBI) and Zipper Zellmann (2-4, RBI).
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.