Omaha quiets Mankato bats

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- After outscoring their opponents 47-11 in their first five games, the bats for Mankato Post 11 went quiet.

Omaha Burke righthander Joe Labanowski limted Mankato bats to just four hits as Burke Post 1 shut out Mankato 6-0 in the championship game of the 2004 Upper Midwest Classic.

Labanowski struck out six in getting the complete game win.

Marcus Duenes took the loss for Mankato, going 2 2/3 innings and was charged with all six Omaha runs.

David Dale, Jeremy Groen and Adam Austin each had two hits for Omaha with Groen and Austin each driving in two runs.

"He (Labanowski) did a great job for us," coach Mike Sortino said as Omaha Burke won its third Upper Midwest Classic title. "He is one of those guys that does not always pitch for us. He is normally our shortstop. But in a tournament where you have six games, some other people need to step up and pitch and he did."

"We came out a little sluggish today," Mankato coach Jamie Mulvhill said. "We could not recover from the 6-0 deficit after three innings. But I thought that we did great in the tournament. We played hard, had a great time and that is all that I can asked out of them."

Burke would stake Labanowski to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jeremy Groen drew a one-out walk, stole second and raced home on Tony Martin's two-out single.

Omaha then sent nine men to the plate in the second inning, scoring four runs.

Duenes wallked Labanowski and then plunked Eric Tomes. Whit Weeks then coaxed a one-out walk to load the bases.

Number nine hitter, Adam Austin, then delivered a big two-run single to left for a 3-0 lead.

"That is another great story like Joe Labanowski," Sortino said. "Adam is a player who has kind of been a back-up player all year long. But deep in the tournament some guys get some opportunities and he got his and took advantage of it. I am real proud of him."

Austin's single was followed by a David Dale infield simgle and then a a Groen two-run double to left for a 5-0 advantage.

Omaha then tacked on another run in the third when Mark Woodward singled and took second on the ensuing error. A hit batter ended Duenes' day. Paul Mages walked Austin and Woodward trotted home on a David Dale sacrifice fly.

Meanwhile, Labanowski controlled the Post 11 bats, allowing just three hits, two of them infield hits, from the third inning on.

"I had expected a slugfest," Sortino said. "A lot of times when you go deep in a tournament, you have to out-hit and out-score people. That shows what kind of a great pitching performance that Joe had. We watched a couple of Mankato's games and they swing the ball real well."

"We went 5-1 in this tournament and that is not bad especially with all the teams that come here," Mulvhill said.

"We love coming here for this tournament," Sortino said. "This was a great weekend. It is a great tournament."

OMAHA BURKE 141-000-0=6-8-1

MANKATO 000-000-0=0-4-1

WP: Labanowski. LP: Duenes. 2B: Groen (O).

MANKATO 7,

ROCHESTER 4

Eric Starke and Andy Stori each had two hits in the win with Adam Sorenson belting a solo home run. Joel Goodow and Drew Zafft each had two hits for Rochester. Brad Walsh was the winning pitcher while Justin Garza took the loss for Rochester.

OMAHA 10, SIOUX FALLS WEST 9 (EIGHT INNINGS)

Eric Quadhammer scored the winning run in tbe bottom of the eighth on a Sioux Falls infield error.

Joe Labanowski and Mark Woodward each had two hits for Omaha with Quadhamer driving in three runs.

Jason Smith, Bryce Ahrendt and Andy Kokenge each had two hits for West.

Omaha overcame a 7-0 Sioux Falls West lead after two innings.