Stunning plays highlight championship: Mankato tops NU for title

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Derek Hager's sacrifice fly with no one out in the bottom of the 10th inning scored J.T. Miller from third and gave Mankato a 3-2 win in the championship game of the Junior Upper Midwest Classic Sunday.

Nate Holbrook got the win for Mankato (13-0) in relief while Ryan Bauer took the loss. Brady Mosenden pitched nine strong innings before giving way to Bauer.

Brian Winter and Gerald Nussmeier each had two hits for Mankato.

Tom Fischer, Jonathon Curry and Jon Suess each had two hits for the Junior Legion (11-6). New Ulm stranded 14 runners on base in the game including leaving the bases loaded in the top of the ninth.

"We have put together a decent winning streak here and the key to that has been our pitching," Mankato co-head coach Eric Davis said. "They threw strikes and we made defensive plays behind them. Both teams played well defensively."

And it would be the defense that made this game one of the most entertaining games in recent years. New Ulm right fielder Mike Penkert made two great catches -- one a diving catch in the bottom of the third to end a Mankato threat and the other an over-the-shoulder grab of a J.T. Miller fly ball in the bottom of the seventh that turned into a double play for New Ulm.

Fischer, who had made four great plays on defense in the win over Marshall, had another stellar defensive performance, as did shortstop Dan Drexler. Nussmeier turned in a great defensive effort for Mankato.

"This was an excellently well played game between the two best teams in the tournament," New Ulm coach Jay Backer said. "We just happened to fall one run short today."

New Ulm took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Fischer legged out an infield single and went to second on a Drexler groundout. Curry's base hit moved him to third and Drexler scored on a fielder's choice.

That lead held up until the bottom of the fifth inning when Mankato, which had been held to one hit through four innings by Mosenden, struck for two runs. Brian Winter and Chris Miller sliced one-out singles, and J.T. Miller's groundout moved both runners up a base. Nussmeier followed with a single to right that scored Winter, and when right fielder Mike Penkert over-ran the ball, Miller scored.

But New Ulm knotted the game in the top of the seventh. Suess reached on an error with one out and swiped second after two were out. Andy Kitzberger then singled home Suess to tie the game.

Mankato put together their winning rally in the bottom of the 10th off of Bauer. J.T. Miller walked and Nussmeier reached on an infield single. Chris Ward followed with a bunt that was fielded by Bauer, but his throw to third was not in time to retire Miller. With the bases loaded, Hager lofted a sacrifice fly to center that was deep enough to score Miller easily for the win.

"We had our chances with runners on base," Backer said about the 14 runners left on base. "We had the right hitters up in those situations, but we did not get that key hit. "

"This game reminded me of a game a couple of years ago here with Mankato East and New Ulm," Davis said. "Both teams made great plays and it went into extra innings."

NEW ULM 7, MARSHALL 1

New Ulm had advanced to the title game with a 7-1 win over Marshall.

Gary Wilfahrt got the win for New Ulm with a compete game, six-hit performance. Wilfahrt, Kitzberger, David Rodenberg, Fischer, Drexler and Penkert all had two hits with Kitzberger driving in two runs. Penkert and Kitzberger had doubles.

Aaron Wiesen had two hits for Marshall.

New Ulm jumped to a 4-0 lead in the second inning with an error, a two-run double by Kitzberger and an RBI single by Fischer recording the runs. The Junior Legion plated another run in the third when Drexler scored on an error.

Marshall scored a run bottom of the third before the Junior Legion added runs in both the fourth and seventh innings.

In the fourth, it was a Drexler RBI single that scored Rodenberg while the run in the seventh was courtesy of one of four Marshall errors.

"We came out right away with our bats," Backer said. His team totaled 13 hits in the game. "And we had big plays by Tom Fischer at third -- if he does not make those plays, it is a different game."

Two of Fischer's plays came back-to-back in the fourth and another in the fifth on diving stops before making the play of the game in the sixth when he took a hit and an RBI away from Nate Baumann when, with a runner on third, he dove to his right, backhanded the hard shot and threw out Baumann at first.

Mankato beat Maple Grove 9-0 to reach the title game. Chris Ward was the winning pitcher allowing four hits. Pete Harstad, Hager and Winter all had two hits for Mankato.