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April 12, 2000
Indians blank MVLBy PAUL DUNLAP Journal Sports Editor NEW ULM -- It was a chilly April afternoon, but Sleepy Eye's Jim Eckstein looked to be in midseason form. Eckstein, a right-hander, threw six innings of three-hit ball Tuesday, lifting the Indians past Minnesota Valley Lutheran 5-0 in Tomahawk Conference baseball action. Eckstein struck out seven and walked none, and Ross Lendt threw a perfect seventh inning to preserve the shutout. John Enter threw well enough to win for the Chargers, yielding five hits while fanning three and walking two, and Tom Metzger pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh. Five Charger errors led to all five Indian runs. "John pitched a real good game for us, and I was pleased with Tom coming back," MVL coach Craig Morgan said. "Our bats were slow, and the errors killed us. I thought our defense would be our strongest point coming in, but I think all five of those runs were unearned. Plus, Jimmy Eckstein pitched a great game for them." "Jim did a great job of throwing strikes today," Sleepy Eye coach Bruce Belseth said. "He threw a lot of strikes, his pitch count was down, and he did a nice job of getting strikes on his off-speed pitches in the later innings. A real good outing for him." The Indians would score all the runs they would need in the top of the second, plating three runs courtesy of two MVL errors. The second errors allowed Bryce Belseth to score from third, and Mike Nachreiner's base hit to right plated both Marty Hoffmann and Cody Walter for the 3-0 lead. Sleepy Eye had just six hits in the game, but Eckstein's triple to right-center in the fifth plated Nachreiner for the four-run lead. He would then score on a perfect squeeze bunt off the bat of Lendt to produce the final margin. "Typically, we're not a good cold-weather-hitting team," Bruce Belseth said. "It's tough for everybody, and we know it's going to come. The guys are a little frustrated with their hitting right now, but I suspect when the weather warms up so will our averages." The Chargers would mount a two-out threat in the sixth as Chris Mielke singled to center and Danny Mielke was hit by a pitch. Eckstein would buckle down to strike out Enter, ending the inning, and Lendt went 1-2-3 in the seventh. Eckstein had two hits to pace the Indian attack. Mielke, Jason Meinzer, and Luke Asleson had the Charger hits. "I'm pleased with what we did today," Morgan said. "I'm not excited about the errors, but I'm pleased with the effort we gave. There's a lot of promising things to come, I think." Sleepy Eye (2-1, 1-1) will host Springfield/Cedar Mountain/Comfrey Thursday. The Chargers (0-1, 0-1) will travel to face Buffalo Lake-Hector, also on Thursday. SLEEPY EYE 030 020 0 -- 5 6 1 MVL 000 000 0 -- 0 3 5 Eckstein, Lendt (6) and Nachreiner. Enter, Metzger (5) and Costello. WP-Eckstein, LP-Enter.
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