Eagle Lake edges Gold

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Doug Espenson spun a one-hitter and Eagle Lake took advantage of two New Ulm errors as they handed Legion Gold a 3-1 defeat Thursday night in South Central Legion play.

Espenson fanned four in getting the win and allowed just that one hit, a lead-off single by Jamie Hoffmann in the seventh.

Ryan Wellmann took the loss for New Ulm Gold (8-9). He also pitched a strong game, striking out nine and giving up just three hits.

"It was not a matter of us not making contact tonight," said Gold head coach Dave Kunz. "We just hit the ball right at them; we had seven balls that were well-hit balls that went right at their fielders."

While New Ulm perhaps hit the ball harder than Eagle Lake, it was the errors by Gold that played a big part in the game. Two of Eagle Lake's three runs were unearned.

That first miscue came in the second inning when Espenson reached on a throwing error to first by Gold second baseman Hoffmann on his ground ball. Espenson stole second and a wild pitch moved him to third with no out. A walk to Dan Brown and a fielder's choice brought in the first run for Eagle Lake.

New Ulm then took a page from Eagle Lake's book when the pushed across a run thanks to a error.

Craig Spelbrink drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the inning and Isaac Larson reached on an error by Anthony Nussmeier at second, which put New Ulm runners on first and second with no out. Brandon Reinarts' sacrifice bunt moved both runners up and a Travis Thorson ground out to second allowed Spelbrink to score to tie the game.

Eagle Lake would score their only earned run of the game in the fourth when Aaron Herzberg led off with a triple to center and scored on Espenson' single to left for a 2-1 lead.

New Ulm, who will play this weekend in the Duluth Tournament, mounted a threat off Espenson in the fifth. Mitch Stueber drew a one-out walk and went to third on a two-out throwing error by shortstop Ben Kaus to put Gold runners on first and third. But Espenson retired Ryan Walters on a ground ball to shortstop to end the threat.

While Gold did not take advantage of that miscue, Eagle Lake would in the top of the sixth to score an insurance run.

Kaus led off by reaching base on a throwing error by Hoffmann. He swiped second and raced to third on a wild pitch. Espenson then collected his second RBI of the game when Kaus trotted home on his ground out to second.

"We had chances to score off of their errors but did not," said Kunz. "They got a key hit or moved a runner over; we did not. They put us in the same situation that we put them (with the errors) but they got the hit to bring them in. We did not."

New Ulm stranded seven runners in the game.

Gold hit the ball solid twice in the seventh inning but came away with nothing. Hoffmann led of the inning with the single, and Stueber followed by lining a shot to Nussmeier at second whose throw to first doubled off Hoffmann to end the threat.

'The last (double play) was a hard line drive; we hit line drives all game long," Kunz said. "And Ryan (Wellmann) threw well; you want your pitchers to throw well and he did tonight. We hold a team like Eagle Lake to three runs, I am happy with that."

NOTE: New Ulm Gold's Scott O'Brien had surgery on his left knee Thursday morning in Rochester and was at the game on crutches. He hopes to be back within 2-3 weeks.

EAGLE LAKE 010 101 0 -- 3 3 3

LEGION GOLD 010 000 0 -- 1 1 2

WP--Espenson, LP--Wellmann. 3B--Herzberg (EL).