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April 5, 2000
Indians rally for winBy PAUL DUNLAP Journal Sports Editor SLEEPY EYE -- It was quite an exciting way to begin the season. The Sleepy Eye baseball team overcame a four-run deficit Tuesday, scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh for the 11-10 nonconference win over St. James at Sleepy Eye Field. "I had a lot of thoughts earlier in the game when we were down," Indians coach Bruce Belseth said. "You start thinking about tomorrow's practice and things you have to work on, but this is a good group of kids. They're going to be able to battle back, you could see that, and they did it for us today." Ross Lendt picked up the win for Sleepy Eye in relief of starter Jim Eckstein, throwing the final 3 1/3 innings. Colter Johnson, who was tagged with the loss, was the third Saints' pitcher of the contest. Eckstein came out of the gate on fire, and no St. James hitter could seem to figure him out. He yielded just one hit through the first three frames while striking out seven batters. "He threw well for the first three (innings), but he himself said that he got tired and ran out of gas a little bit," Belseth said of the righthander. "You could see the difference then, but we're trying to build arms now (early in the season) and certainly not hurt any." The Indians took a 1-0 lead on a Loren Havemeier RBI single in the third, but the Saints came back with a four-spot in the fourth. A bases-loaded walk to Jeff Branstad and RBI singles from Danon Anderson and Brett Olson helped St. James to the three-run edge. David Schroepfer wouldn't allow that lead to last long, though, as a Bryan Weiss fly ball single and an error set up his three-run blast to left-center off Saint pitcher Adam Walker. Suddenly, the game was knotted at 4-4. "It didn't take long for that ball to get out," Belseth said of Schroepfer's homer. "That was a well-hit ball, and well-timed at that part of the game." It looked like a win wouldn't be in the cards for the Indians on this day as, after an Eckstein RBI double gave Sleepy Eye a 5-4 lead in the fifth, the Saints bounced back with a six-run sixth. A fielding error gave St. James life with two outs, and Derrick Nau delivered with a three-run shot to right-center to end the rally with the Saints on top 10-5. "Defensively, we had a few breakdowns there that definitely hurt us," Belseth said. "(Rallies) like that are going to happen -- good teams take advantage of mistakes, and it happened in that inning." The bottom of the seventh started with a groundout, but Weiss then tripled and both Mike Nachreiner and Schroepfer followed with walks to load the bases. Walker was pulled in favor of Johnson at that point, and Cody Walter greeted the righthander with an RBI single to center. Lendt's walk forced home another run, Havemeier stepped up with a two-run single to center on a 2-2 pitch to knot the game, and Cole Deibele -- 0-for-3 for the game to that point -- ripped a shot down the leftfield line. Lendt scampered home from second for the winning run. "There's a sense of maturity with this group of kids," Belseth said. "You can see it -- they don't panic or get too excited. They've been around the game a long time, and today was an indication of that." Havemeier finished the game 3-for-3 with a pair of walks and three RBI. Eckstein and Weiss each had two hits, and Schroepfer added three RBI with the home run. Sleepy Eye (1-0) will travel to Milroy to face Wabasso Thursday. ST. JAMES 000 406 0 -- 10-10-5 SLEEPY EYE 001 311 5 -- 11-10-1 WP-Lendt, LP-Johnson. 2B-Havemeier (SE), Eckstein (SE). 3B-Weiss (SE). HR-Schroepfer (SE), Nau (SJ).
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