Eagles pound Lakeville

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- If author Charles Dickens were alive to attend Saturday's New Ulm High-Lakeville baseball game, he may well have entitled the contest A Tale of Two Ballgames.

New Ulm plated runs in the first four innings to take a comfortable 12-1 lead before the Panthers managed a rally with five unanswered runs as the Eagles held on for a 12-6 nonconference win.

Bobby Wellmann picked up the pitching win for New Ulm (12-3), going the distance, giving up six runs (three unearned) and striking out four. He gave up six hits.

Justin Ancel, who pitched in the State Class 3A title game last year for the Panthers, shouldered the loss. In three-plus innings, he was tagged for seven runs on eight hits as Eagle bats pounded out 15 hits in the win.

Eric Austvold, Jamie Hoffmann, Dusty Fleck, Nate Braun and Matt Schmidt all had two hit days for the Eagles, with Braun driving in five runs -- four coming on a fourth-inning grand slam. It was New Ulm's second grand slam home run in three days.

Fleck and Schmidt each drove in two runs.

"It was impressive that we got (eight) hits off (Ancel)," said coach Jim Senske. "It was a nice day for hitters. I think that maybe seeing a quick kid (Friday night against Park Center) under the lights let us get out a little quicker. And we had a contribution from a lot of people at the right time (nine different players had at least one hit). We got some clutch hits and it was nice to see us score 12 runs."

That run outburst would start in the bottom of the first inning when Austvold singled and went to second on a Hoffmann sacrifice bunt. Travis Thorson walked before Fleck brought both Austvold and Thorson in with a bloop double to right field.

Schmidt's one-out single in the second would end up producing New Ulm's third run of the game. Schmidt went to third on a hit-and-run single by Austvold with one out and scored on Hoffmann's sacrifice fly to right.

After Wellmann set down the Panthers in order in the third, New Ulm would put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the inning.

Thorson coaxed a lead-off walk and went to third on a Fleck single. Braun's base hit back up the middle plated Thorson for a 4-0 lead. Both runners moved into scoring position on a Rob Geistfeld sacrifice bunt and Schmidt's second single of the game brought both of them in to increase the lead to 6-0.

The Panthers would break through on Wellmann for a single run in the fourth on the first of three errors in the inning by the New Ulm defense.

Jason Brown reached on a throwing error by Hoffmann at shortstop and was sacrificed to second by Ash Larson. Nate Sodberger's ground ball to second baseman Craig Spelbrink handcuffed him, allowing Brown to score an Soderberg to reach first.

The Eagles' third error of the inning, by center fielder Austvold when he dropped a John Arlt fly ball, put runners on first and second with one out. Wellmann, however, retired the next two hitters to avoid more damage.

"Errors are always a concern," commented Senske, who saw his team also tagged with three errors in the win over Park Center Friday night. "But I still think that when we are ready to play ball and when we are completely focused, those (errors) are going to vanish."

The errors did not bother the Eagle bats in the bottom of the inning as they hammered out six hits and scored six runs to take a 12-1 lead.

Hoffmann led off with a triple to deep center, ending Ancel's pitching day. Reliever Tony Cornell was greeted by Craig Spelbrink's RBI single. Thorson followed with a single before Cornell walked Fleck to load the bases for Braun.

Cornell worked the count to 3-1 before Braun gave a Cornell pitch a new zip code, belting the ball over the fence in left-center field for an 11-1 lead.

"He hit that ball a ton," Senske said about the 400-foot plus dinger by Braun. "I was telling our kids that we are just not nine players; I can start five different outfielders and probably not lose a thing. I could start a couple of different first baseman and it doesn't make any difference who is playing."

Paul Yager's single later in that same inning scored Stolt, who had reached on a single.

But Lakeville, coached by former New Ulmite Mark Zeise, would strike back on Wellmann for two runs in the fifth (one unearned because of an error) and then added three more in the sixth as the Panthers recorded three hits in the inning, including a triple by Arlt.

"We may have lost focus; we have a young arm (Wellmann is a sophomore) and he did get tired," commented Senske. "Maybe he should have been relieved then ... he may have gotten a little sloppy. But he is our number-one pitcher and he is going to have to shut down the teams that are going to be very much like Lakeville when we get into section play. He may have been throwing rather than pitching late in the game, but we did beat two good Metro schools this weekend."

New Ulm gets back into South Central Conference play Monday when they travel to Waseca for a 5 p.m. game.

LAKEVILLE 000 123 0--6 6 1

NEW ULM 213 600 x--12 16 4

WP-Wellmann, LP-Ancel. 2B-Fleck (NU), Spandal (L), Schmidt (L). 3B-Hoffmann (NU), Arlt (L). HR-Braun (NU).