Thorson, Gold pound on Sault Ste. Marie, 9-0

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Bobby Wellmann pitched six innings of two-hit ball and New Ulm bats exploded for 14 hits as Gold hammered Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., 9-0 Friday night in the Upper Midwest Classic at Johnson Park.

The right-hander struck out six and faced only 21 batters in that span, three over the limit, in getting the win.

Jamie Hoffmann finished the seventh, giving up three singles.

Josh McDonald took the loss for Sault Ste. Marie. He struck out two in seven innings while walking two.

Travis Thorson paced the Gold bats with a 3-for-3 performance. Hoffmann, John Enter, Rob Geistfeld and Andy Stolt all had two hits with both of Geistfeld's hits doubles.

Joey Schugel, Enter and Stolt all drove in two runs. Schugel had an RBI triple.

Scott Donague had a triple for SSM.

"We hit the ball better than we did Thursday (nine hits in the win over Cold Spring)," said Gold coach Dave Kunz. "We started scoring runs earlier in the game and did some nice things."

And New Ulm got another strong pitching performance from the junior-to-be at New Ulm High.

Wellmann allowed three Sault Ste. Marie batters to reach base -- a lead-off walk to Donague to start the game, a lead-off single to Mark Schley in the fourth (who was erased on a double play), and a two-out triple to Donague.

"He did a nice job," commented Kunz. "He did not throw a whole lot of pitches. He kept them down."

New Ulm plated a single run in the second inning when John Enter and Thorson singled to start the inning.

One out later, Enter scored on Stolt's single to right field.

In the third inning, Gold tacked on three more runs.

Craig Spelbrink struck out but reached first base when catcher Doug Mitchell could not handle the pitch. Hoffmann's single moved Spelbrink to second.

After McDonald fanned Schugel, John Enter doubled home both Spelbrink and Hoffmann for a 3-0 lead.

McDonald then made a fatal mistake to Thorson. After getting Thorson in an 0-2 hole, he tried to sneak a fast ball by him. Thorson promptly drilled that 0-2 pitch to deep center for an RBI triple and a 4-0 cushion.

New Ulm followed that with another three-run inning in the fourth.

Spelbrink reached on a fielder's choice and took second on an error on the same play.

Hoffmann's infield base hit moved Spelbrink to third. Schugel then gave Gold a 6-0 lead with a triple to center and when the relay throw got by the cut-off man, Schugel scampered home for a 7-0 lead.

Geistfeld's one-out double in the fifth and a Stolt single lifted New Ulm to an 8-0 lead before scoring another single run in the seventh.

Geistfeld's one-out double -- his second double of the game -- a wild pitch and Dusty Wilfahrt's pinch-hit single brought in Gold's final run.

NEW ULM 013 3101--9 14 0

SAULT STE. MARIE 000 000 0--0 5 2

WP: Wellmann. LP: McDonald.