Loss eliminates

Gold from Classic

championship race

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Ryan Fischer's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Gary Kiess from third and gave Cold Spring a 5-4 win over New Ulm Gold.

Rick Burtzel picked up the win for Cold Spring, pitching the 1 2-3 innings in relief of starter Tim Voigt.

Ryan Wellmann absorbed the loss for Gold, also in relief. He came in for Gold starter Andy Stolt, who went six-plus innings and gave up 10 hits.

Both New Ulm Gold and Cold Spring were eliminated from today's championship rounds.

Fischer led Cold Spring with three hits while Dan Wehlage and Mike Ficker each had two hits.

Jamie Hoffmann had two of New Ulm's six hits in the game and drove in two runs

"Andy (Stolt) did a fine job for us today," said Gold coach Dave Kunz. "We just do not have enough pitching. We don't have guys to go to."

But Sunday, the right-handed Stolt was the guy that Gold went to and held the Springers to two harmless singles in the first two innings before Gold put together a four-run third inning off Voigt.

Both Micade Thordson's ground ball to shortstop and Isaac Larson's bunt back to Voigt on the hill were booted to put New Ulm runners on first and second with no outs.

A passed ball allowed both runners to move up a base before Hoffmann delivered a two-run double to center field for a 2-0 Gold lead.

A one-out wild pitch sent Hoffmann to third and a second wild pitch by Voigt not only allowed Hoffmann to score.

John Enter later scored on a Scott O'Brien sacrifice fly to right.

But the Springers, who were retired in order by Stolt in the third on six pitches, got to him in the fourth.

Singles by Josh Porwoll and Rick Burtzel, and a bunt single by Ryan Fischer loaded the bases with no outs. Paul Schreiner followed with the fourth straight hit -- a two-run double to right that cut the New Ulm lead to 4-2. Schreiner scored on New Ulm's only error of the game as Cold Spring cut the lead to 4-3.

New Ulm would threaten in both the fifth and sixth innings but fail to score. In the fifth, Hoffmann led off with a single and two ground outs moved him to third. But O'Brien flew out to center to end the inning.

In the sixth Joey Schugel led off with a double to center and Travis Thorson drew a one-out walk. But Burtzel came in for Voigt and fanned Micade Thordson and then got Isaac Larson to pop out to left.

"We had the opportunities to get our runs in other than the four that we scored (in the third inning)," said Kunz. "We just never could. We could not come up with the hit."

Cold Spring scored the winning run in the seventh when Gayr Kiess led off with a double off Stolt, which ended his pitching day. Ryan Wellmann fanned the first hitter that he faced before issuing intentional walks to both Porwoll and Burtzel before Fischer ended the game hitting a 1-0 Wellmann pitch by the drawn-in New Ulm infielders and into center field.

NEW ULM GOLD 004 000 0--4 6 1

COLD SPRING 000 301 1--5 10 1

W--Burtzel. L--Wellmann. 2B--New Ulm, Hoffmann, Schugel; Cold Spring, Schreiner, Ficker, Keist.

DULUTH LAKEVIEW 3,

NEW ULM GOLD 0

If you don't hit the ball, you rarely win.

New Ulm Gold could muster only four hits and let scoring threats in the fifth and sixth innings go by the wayside as Duluth Lakeview blanked Gold 3-0 Sunday night in the Upper Midwest Classic.

Left-hander Scott Pugliese held the New Ulm bats in check allowing only two hits in his five-plus innings of work. Right-hander Shawn Carlson gave up the other two hits in his two innings of work.

Craig Spelbrink took the loss for Gold. which finished the tournament 1-3. He gave up seven hits.

Luke Beresford and Jack Lyons each had two hits with Beresford driving in two runs.

The only scoring would occur in the first inning when Post 342 scored their three runs.

Weston Tardy singled with one out. A Tom Simonsen single to center and an error by Gold center fielder John Enter allowed the runners to move up to second and third on the play.

After Spelbrink retired Jeff Jasperson on a ground out, Luke Beresford sliced a two-out single to right with Beresford taking second on the second New Ulm error of the inning.

Jack Lyons followed with a run-scoring single to center for the 3-0 lead.

Gold, which only had one hit through four innings and now has only 14 hits in their last 24 innings, threatened in the fifth when Brandon Reinarts drew a one-out walk. Mitch Stueber followed with a free pass and Jamie Hoffmann singled to load the bases.

But Pugliese got Joey Schugel to ground out to end the inning.

In the sixth, New Ulm put their first two runnners on base as Ryan Walters walked and John Enter beat out a bunt single. But the lefthander again worked out of trouble, getting Travis Thorson and Reinarts to ground out to third.

NEW ULM GOLD 000 000 0--0 4 3

DULUTH LAKEVIEW 300 000 x--3 7 1

W--Pugliese. L--Spelbrink..