Post 7 tops Legion Blue

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Baseball is a game of inches. That was never more evident than Monday night.

Chad Armbruster's two-out diving stab in right field of Nate Braun's deep fly ball with the bases loaded preserved a 4-2 Sleepy Eye win over New Ulm Blue in South Central Legion action.

Jim Eckstein was the winning pitcher for Sleepy Eye (6-8), going five innings. He gave up one run and five hits.

Joey Penkert took the loss for Blue (6-11), pitching five-plus strong innings. He gave up three runs and five hits. Two of those runs were unearned.

Chad Armbruster had two hits for Sleepy Eye including a double. Eckstein and Dan Schwartz also doubled.

Dan Johnson had two hits for Blue, which saw its three-game winning streak broken.

Blue was seemingly out of the game in the seventh down two runs after reliever Ross Lendt retired the first two New Ulm hitters of the inning. But Lendt walked Mike Grossmann and Rob Geistfeld, which ended his stint. Andy Konz, the third Post 7 pitcher of the game, walked Paul Yager to load the bases. Braun then drilled a 3-2 offering deep to right field that Armbruster tracked down with a diving catch over his left shoulder to end the game.

"Our hitters were patient (in that seventh inning) and got us some walks," said Blue head coach Steve Grossmann. "We got our big guy (Braun) up and he hit the ball as hard as he could where he should. If the ball drops, we win."

Leaving runners on base was one reason that Blue took the loss. They had the bases full in both the second (with no outs) and again in the fifth (with no outs) but managed only one run.

"The first two situations we were not patient at the plate," commented Grossmann.

Sleepy Eye would score their first run of the game in the third off Penkert when Mike Nachreiner walked with one out. Konz sent a potential double-play ground ball to Hans Biebl at second, but the ball went under his glove to put runners on first and third. Nachreiner scored when Konz was out trying to steal second.

A second error in the fourth added another run for Post 7. Cole Deibele's ground ball to Jason Schmitz at shortstop went under his glove and Deibele hustled into second to begin the inning. He would score when Blue centerfielder Matt Furth misjudged a Schwartz line drive for an RBI double and a 2-0 lead.

Sleepy Eye then made it 3-0 in the fifth when Konz singled with one out. A wild pitch, a ground out and Armbruster's bloop single brought in a run.

"Joey (Penkert) did a very nice job for us," said Grossmann. "He had a good-sized hole in his (pitching) thumb prior to the game, and pitched (five innings) with a hole in his thumb. The (two) runs were unearned and because of a misjudged fly ball. He pitched well again."

Blue would cut into that 3-0 lead with a run in the fifth. Schmitz walked and Biebl doubled. A walk to Penkert loaded the bases with no outs before Schmitz would score on a fielder's choice.

Sleepy Eye went back to a three-run lead with a single run in the sixth on Bryan Weiss' two-out infield single.

New Ulm notched a run in the sixth when Paul Yager was hit by a Lendt pitch and went to second on a wild pitch. Pinchrunner John Colburn scored on Johnson's base hit to center.

"I think that we are playing 100 percent better recently," said Grossmann. "We had won three straight, so now I hope that we can keep this level up in the district (tournaments)."

SLEEPY EYE 001 111 0 -- 4 8 0

LEGION BLUE 000 011 0 -- 2 6 2

WP--Eckstein, LP--Penkert. 2B--Eckstein (SE), Schwartz (SE), Biebl (NU), Armbruster (SE).