New Ulm edges Hutch

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Inexperience. The only real cure is experience.

You just have to play, make mistakes, and try not to make the same mistakes again and again.

With just three games left before the postseason, New Ulm VFW Gold needs the playing time. They're getting that, and they got a win Wednesday night, too, taking a come-from-behind 9-7 decision from Hutchinson Blue at New Ulm High School.

But it wasn't a pretty win. In fact, VFW Gold committed seven errors.

"What a roller coaster, huh? We looked like a good ballclub at times and sometimes we just make the most ridiculous mistakes you'll ever see on a baseball field," VFW Gold coach Bob Weier said. "I don't know if it comes from a lack of preparation or just a lack of experience, or if that's just a characteristic of a 15-year-old baseball team. I don't know."

But one characteristic of Weier's players is they didn't give up. VFW Gold (10-17) rallied not just once, but three times.

"I thought with the lead, we'd be able to hold it, but I think with our team no lead is safe," Hutchinson coach Chad Elston said. "We're starting to have a lot of pitching control problems. We've always been a decent-hitting team, we just have trouble with our pitching."

Pitching was a problem for Hutchinson (8-14). Three Hutchinson pitchers allowed 12 hits, but ultimately, defense cost them the game.

New Ulm scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 9-7 lead. All three of the runs were scored after the second out.

Joe Lux led off VFW Gold's sixth by reaching on an error. Two batters later, Adam Macho singled to right.

Two more batters later, Josh Thorson, who went 3-for-4 for Gold, tripled to the gap in right, scoring both Lux and Macho. Thorson scored on Adam Neubauer's ground-ball single to left field for what would be the final 9-7 margin.

"This ballclub hasn't given up," Weier said. "But the thing that I worry about is that when they make a mistake, it almost appears to make that they accept it. I worry about that."

Thorson provided much of the offense for New Ulm. In addition to his key triple in the sixth, Thorson also hit a three-run inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the third inning and finished with five RBI and three runs scored.

Adam Prochniak and Neubauer also had multiple-hit games for VFW Gold. Prochniak was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and an RBI; Neubauer went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

Brandon Brehmer -- the last of three Hutchinson pitchers victimized by New Ulm -- took the loss, giving up three runs on three hits in his one inning of work.

"You have to give (VFW Gold) credit," Elston said. "They're a good-hitting team."

Macho got the win in relief for New Ulm. He shut out Hutchinson Blue and didn't allow a hit in his 2 2-3 innings, striking out two and walking two.

Hutchinson got out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but VFW Gold tied the score at 1 with a pair of doubles in the home half of the inning. Landon Rewitzer doubled to the gap in left and two batters later Prochniak doubled to nearly the same place, plating Rewitzer.

VFW Gold took a 2-1 lead with a run in the second. Neubauer was hit by Hutchinson starter Drew Gorenson, stole second and eventually scored on the first of Hutchinson's three errors in the game.

Hutchinson retook the lead with a pair of runs in the third. Pete Bissen and Dan Monahan each had run-scoring singles to give Blue a 3-2 advantage.

But VFW Gold came back with three runs of its own in the bottom of the third. Tony Mielke was hit by a pitch and Prochniak doubled before Thorson drilled a shot over the head of Hutchinson right fielder Dereck Weerts.

Thorson came all the way around, pushing Mielke and courtesy runner Dusty Hillesheim ahead of him, with a stand-up inside-the-park home run.

Hutchinson cut the lead to 5-4 with a run in the fourth and then took a 7-5 lead with three runs in the top of the fifth inning. Hutchinson needed only one hit, taking advantage of two VFW Gold errors; only one of the three runs was earned.

"I think at the mid-point of our season, the kids worked on things like that," Weier said, "trying not to make the mistake, and if they do, at least not accept it. Now, I don't know, but the last week or so, I almost get the feeling that they're beginning to accept it.

"The playoffs are a little over a week away, and those are things we need to talk about."

New Ulm cut Hutchinson's lead to 7-6 with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jeremy Penkert singled in Thorson, who had singled to lead off the inning.

VFW Gold will host Wells in a doubleheader at 11 a.m. Saturday at Martin Luther College in New Ulm.

HUTCHINSON BLUE 102 130 0--7 7 3

NU VFW GOLD 113 013 x--9 12 7

Gorenson, Zelm (5), Brehmer (7) and Bissen. Mielke, Macho (5) and Prochniak. W--Macho. L--Brehmer. HR--New Ulm, Thorson. T--1:58.