Hawks Get By Gussies to Open Tourney

Hawks Get By Gussies to Open Tourney

The Eden Valley Hawks won their first playoff game of the 2003 amateur baseball season by defeating the St. Augusta Gussies by a score of 8 to 6 in the opening round game Sunday afternoon in Eden Valley. Dan Hansen got the win on the mound for the Hawks, pitching 5 1/3 innings of relief while only giving up one run.

The Hawks scored each of the first two innings and, after a scoreless third, the Hawks had a 2-0 lead. In the top of the fourth, St. Augusta got runners on first and third with one out. Starting pitcher Matthew Pennertz made a jumping stop up the middle and got the runner heading home for the second out. But that didn’t stifle the St. Augusta bats for the inning, for they scored five runs on three hits, one walk, and one Hawks error in the fourth, knocking Pennertz from the game.

The Hawks, now down 5-2, could have rolled over and quit, blaming bad timing and cheap hits for the loss. Instead, when their turn came to bat in the fourth, the rose to the challenge and tied the game 5-5 after four innings. After a walk and a single, pinch hitter Brandon Moehrle took the 0-1 pitch from St. Augusta starter Zach Laudenbach over the leftfielder’s head and ended up on second base with Al Faber scoring from second on the hit and Nic Hansen ending up on third base. A sacrifice fly by Joe Thiel scored Hansen and a single by Dan Berg scored Moehrle, tying the game.

With Dan Hansen now pitching, the Gussies failed to get a runner to reach second base for the next three innings, while the Hawks continued to score runs, one each of those same three innings. After a walk and stolen base by Rob Ruhland, Mike Mathies drove him in with one of his two hits to give the Hawks a 6-5 lead in the fifth. In the sixth the Hawks took a 7-5 lead after Dan Berg singled, stole second base, and scored on a Chuck Geislinger single. In the seventh, the Hawks widened their lead to 8-5 with singles by Faber and Mathies and a sacrifice fly by Stephen Pennertz, scoring Faber.

The Gussies threatened in the top of the eighth, getting runners to second and third with only one out. But after a strike out, a fly-out, and a 1-2-3 bottom half of the inning, the ninth inning started with the Hawks in pretty good shape with a three run lead. In the top of the ninth, Doug Laudenbach ripped his first offering from Hansen for a double. One out later, with Laudenbach still at second, Travis Winter beat out a ground ball to reach, putting runners at first and third with one out. A base hit followed, and the Gussies now trailed by two and had runners at second and third and only one out. On a foul ball out to catcher Nic Hansen, Winter advanced to third as no one was covering. The final out came next as Dan Hansen caught a line drive right back at him to give the Hawks the 8-6 win.

The Hawks will now play Sunday, July 20 in Pearl Lake in the second round of playoffs. They will also play HR Pesty’s this Wednesday evening at 7:30 in Eden Valley.

Check out our new website at www.edenvalleyhawks.com!

Eden Valley Hitting: Brandon Moehrle: 1-1, 2B, RBI, R; Dan Berg, Chuck Geislinger, Joby McCann, and Mike Mathies each had two hits.

St. Augusta Hitting: Doug Laudenbach: 2-5, 2B, R; Travis Winter, Dustin Schultzenburg, and Rick Clubb each had two hits.

Eden Valley Pitching (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K): Matthew Pennertz: 3 2/3-5-5-0-1-3; Dan Hansen (W) 5 1/3-6-1-1-1-4

St. Augusta Pitching (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K): Zach Laudenbach: 3 2/3-8-5-5-3-3; Tom Fuchs (L) 4 1/3-5-3-3-1-4