MVL baseball tops GFW 8-1 in home opener

Polzin grabs win for MVL in debut

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- The Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers started its season strong, topping Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 8-1 in Tomahawk Conference baseball at Mueller Park.

"We're going to be up and down," GFW head coach Jeff Seehafer\ "Today was a down day."

Bryant Polzin grabbed the win for MVL(1-0,1-0), striking out seven, walking four while allowing five hits and one run. At one point, he had four straight strike outs. He struck out every batter in the second and struck out the first in the third before GFW's Pat O'Malley singled for the first GFW hit.

"He was a question mark coming in this year," MVL coach Jeff Schoenherr said. "He didn't play last year because of a medical problem.

"I was hoping he'd help us out pitching -- and he did. I told him to throw strikes and let your defense help you out and that's what he's doing."

Jeff Dolan relieved Polzin in the sixth, and allowed one hit and striking out two.

Scott Erdal got the loss for GFW, pitching 1 2/3 innings giving up two earned runs. He struck out one and walked two.

"He threw strikes," Seehafer said. "But we made a couple of fielding errors and missed plays behind him. According to our book, all three runs in the second inning were all unearned."

John DeRock relieved him in the second, striking Adam Hoscheit out on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded. He allowed three runs, struck out four and allowed four walks.

GFW had three errors in the second inning leading to three runs. Ben Heldt, Aaron Madson, and Dolan, who rounded all the bases, scored.

"They gave us a few walks," Schoenherr said. "We were able to combine them with a few hits, so we took advantage of what we had."

Batting out of the bottom of the lineup, Pat O'Malley went 3-3 for GFW with three singles. Ryan Blumhoefer went 1-3 with a double.

The middle of the line ups came through for MVL. Tyler Morgan went 2-3 with three RBIs for MVL. Karl Struck went 1-2. He doubled in the fifth and eventually stole home on a wild pitch.

"All the way through the lineup they've been hitting well," Schoenherr said. "Hope that continues."

The game was a little closer than the score would indicate. GFW had trouble leaving players in scoring position.

"We had a lot of opportunities. There's no doubt about that," Seehafer said.

After jumping out to an early 5-0 lead after two, MVL got out of some tough situations, while GFW missed two opportunities to get back into the game. GFW left two on base, one on third and one on second, in both the third and fourth innings.

"We get a clutch hit and we're back in the ball game," Seehafer said.

GFW has a young team, and Seehafer says "with inexperience that's going to happen."

On a normal day for GFW, the team has two sophomores and two freshmans starting.

"We have one senior that has varsity experience," Seehafer said. "After that we're pretty young."

MVL will travel to Sleepy Eye St. Mary's Thursday.

GFW will host Buffalo Lake-Hector Friday at Fairfax at 4:30 p.m.