Omaha downs Blue

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- One thing a struggling team cannot afford to do is give its opponent an extra out.

Friday night, New Ulm Legion Blue gave Omaha an extra out and it resulted in six unearned runs as the Sportsquest Bulldogs from Omaha downed Blue 9-6 in the Upper Midwest Classic at Johnson Park.

Chris Emanuel was the winning pitcher for Omaha, going six innings and striking out eight. He yielded eight hits and six runs.

Jeff Reiter took the loss for Blue, pitching 4 2/3 innings and allowing seven hits and all nine runs.

Josh Brandt led Omaha with three hits with Ben Deas going 2-for-2, including a grand slam home run in the six-run fifth inning.

Robby Geistfeld had two hits for Blue.

"I thought that, with the exception of a couple of plays, that we played very well," said Blue head coach Steve Grossmann. "Jeff (Reiter) did a good job pitching for us; he hung in there. I would have liked to have won, but I was happy with the overall play."

That overall play by Blue saw them tied at 1-1 with Omaha after three innings.

Blue had scored a run in the top of the third inning when Dan Johnson drove a triple to deep center field and scored on a Matt Schmidt bunt single.

Sportsquest knotted the game in the bottom of the inning when Brandt doubled to start the inning.Two walks and a Darren Hoffart sacrifice fly tied the game.

New Ulm would leave the bases loaded in the top of the fourth inning before Omaha plated two runs in the bottom half.

Mike Stile walked, the fifth free pass of the game issued by Reiter, to begin the inning. He stole second and took third when the throw from Blue catcher Mike Grossmann went into center field. John White's base hit scored Stile. Brandt singled and eventually scored on a Jeff Hansen bad-hop single for a 3-1 lead.

New Ulm again left the bases full in the fifth, and again Sportsquest scored in the bottom of the inning.

Aaron Boettcher singled, swiped second and went to third on Stile's fly out to right. White's fly ball to left field, which would have been the third out of the inning, was dropped by Geistfeld. Matt Vecchio walked to end Reiter's mound duties. Johnson was greeted by an infield single by Brandt that loaded the bases. Johnson issued a walk to Hansen for another run before Deas cleared the bases driving a 1-0 Johnson pitch over the fence in left.

Blue pushed across five runs in the sixth. Grossmann singled, Travis Boddy walked and Jason Schmitz was safe on an infield hit to load the bases. Grossmann scored on an error on a Johnson ground ball and Boddy scored on a wild pitch. Geistfeld walked before Nate Braun's fly ball to right was dropped by Brandt, allowing three runs to score.

BLUE 001 005 0 -- 6 8 3

OMAHA 001 260 x -- 9 10 2

WP--Emanuel, LP--Reiter. 2B--Deas (O), Brandt (O). 3B--Johnson (NU). HR--Deas (O).