Sleepy Eye blasts back

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

MANKATO -- Last year, Cathedral pitcher Eric Portner had two successful outings against Sleepy Eye, so Cathedral figured that Portner again would be the answer against the Indians in the loser's bracket game Tuesday.

But it appeared that the Indians had finally solved Portner as the Indians bunted the ball around the infield in the second inning to score two runs, giving them a 3-0 lead. Sleepy Eye hung on to win 6-1 and thus eliminated Cathedral from the Section 2A playoffs at Franklin Rogers Park.

The win meant the Indians had to face Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial for the right to advance to the Section 2A title game, and the Indian bats picked up where they left off, defeating the Knights 9-1 in a game that ended in six innings due to heavy rain.

Tyler Jensen got the win in the first game, limiting the Greyhounds to only two hits. Jensen used a high inside fastball, then an outside curve to keep the Greyhounds from getting too settled at the plate.

"I just tried to keep it in, and tried to mix things up with a curve ball inside," Jensen said. "I was really trying to keep them on their front foot."

Jensen said that it was frustrating being shut down by Portner twice, so the Indians made it a point to put the ball in play.

"Last year, he pitched two games against us, and he shut us down in both games," Jensen said. "So we just wanted to come in and make contact and make them make the plays."

Sleepy Eye finished with eight hits. Gary Wilfahrt pitched the final two innings for the Greyhounds.

"We had eight hits ... I mean, those are two top-notch pitchers out there that were definitely dominating in the conference," Jensen said. "I'm happy with what we got today."

"They scratched out a run in the first inning, and then they just slowly stretched the lead," Cathedral coach Bob Weier said. "I thought that Eric did a nice job, until they saw him, probably until about the third time, and they kinda had him figured out."

The Indians used the bunt to thier advantage in second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Cathedral cut the lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning, but the Indians kept swinging the hot bat, scoring two more runs in the fifth. Derek Nachreiner singled in Dan Krzmarzick, and Nachreiner later scored on Travis Braulick's hit.

"They got some breaks -- they made the breaks for themselves with the bunting," Weier said. "We probably weren't as aggressive as we should've been defensively. Their pitcher Tyler did a nice job on the mound. He shut down our bats and that's what you have to do at this point in the season."

In the second game against LCWM, the Indians took advantage of a different Knight team that played on Saturday. The Knights were missing their starting catcher, who is in Spain. Sleepy Eye ran wild on the bases, finishing with six stolen bases and took several extra bases on passed balls.

Sleepy Eye scored three runs in the top of the first when Braulick doubled in Jensen to make it 2-0. After adding another run in the second, Sleepy Eye scored four more runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth.

Walter had a double and a run scored and Nachreiner had a triple and two runs scored. Jensen had a double and scored two runs and Braulick had two hits and scored twice. Jason Schueler got the win and he also had a hit and a run. Dan Peterson had two hits, two RBIs and a run scored. Schueler struck out four.

Sleepy Eye faces Sleepy Eye St. Mary's at 5 p.m. Thursday at Franklin Rogers Park. The Indians have to beat the Knights twice in order to advance to the state tournament.