Brewers

down Essig

in season

finale for

Tomahawk

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

ESSIG -- Ryan Weier's throwing error with two outs in the top of the 12th inning, the Bluejays' fifth error, allowed Craig Spelbrink to score from second as the New Ulm Brewers edged Essig 3-2 Sunday afternoon in the Tomahawk East League regular season finale.

The win puts the Brewers in a tie with Essig for the American Division championship with equal records of 15-5.

Chris Peters got credit for the pitching win. He took over for New Ulm starter Tony Burt who went the first eight innings.

Dusty Fleck was charged with the loss for Essig in relief. Fleck threw three innings in relief of starter Jacob Mertz.

Mertz yielded four hits and two runs while striking out four in eight innings.

Peters led New Ulm with three hits.

Terry Helget and Mitch Stueber each had three hits. Kyle Helget got two hits.

Essig outhit New Ulm 11-5.

Both teams will receive first-round byes for playoffs and will not play until July 25.

'Tony did a nice job for us," said Peters. "He had been out for a few weeks, but I was impressed with how he threw. I was concerned about his stamina because he has not picked up a baseball for a while. He ended up doing a good job and going eight innings for us. He kept us in the game."

The Brewers scored the eventual game-winning run in the 12th inning when Spelbrink led off with a single to right field and went to second on a Corey Schaefer sacrifice bunt. After Evan Jacobs flew out to right field for the second out, Travis Thorson slapped a ground ball to Weier at shortstop. Weier fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw to first was wild allowing Spelbrink to score.

Essig mounted a threat in the bottom of the inning when Weier singled to start the inning. Terry Helget's two-out base hit put Weier at second. But Peters got Jeff Juni to fly out to right to end the game.

"We had a couple of errors early in the game that cost us a few runs," said Essig manager Doug Radloff. "We had some critical errors, but other than that it was a good game between two good teams."

The Brewers, playing their third game in as many days, used an Essig error to jump to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

After Jacob Mertz retired Travis Thorson, Troy Kamm rolled a comebacker to Mertz who bobbled the ball, allowing Kamm to reach first. The first of three Peters' hits moved Kamm to third. Todd Hoffmann drew a walk prior to Scott Schaefer's single to right that scored Kamm.

Essig tied the game in the bottom of the second when Mitch Stueber led off with a double that hugged the right field line. Larry Haala's ground-out moved Stueber to third. After a groundout, Stueber scored when Scott Schaefer misplayed a ground ball by Travis Walden.

It was the only Brewer error of the game.

In the next three innings, Mertz and Burt worked out of minor jams.The Brewers put a runner on second with one out but the left-handed Mertz worked out of the trouble.

In the bottom of the fourth, Burt allowed a lead-off double to Stueber -- his second of the game -- but set down the next three Bluejay hitters to stop the threat.

At one time, Burt set down nine straight Essig hitters before Haala singled to lead off the seventh but stayed there.

"I was very surprised that I went (eight innings)," said Burt. "At the end, I could feel by legs and arms were tiring, but I just tried to throw strikes. It was nice to be back."

Peters' lead-off double in the sixth inning resulted in a 2-1 New Ulm lead. Hoffmann followed with his second walk of the game off Mertz. Scott Schaefer's sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position.

A Craig Spelbrink sacrifice fly to left scored Peters.

But the jays tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Kyle Helget led off with a base hit to right field and a Dusty Fleck sacrifice bunt put him at second. He tagged and went to third on Terry Helget's fly out to right. Juni's two-out single brought in Helget to tie the game.

Essig put together a potential game-winning threat in the bottom of the 10th inning. Kyle Helget singled. Fleck followed with a bunt that was fielded by Peters. His throw to second to try and retire Helget was not in time and the Jays had the winning run on second base with no outs.

However a fielder's choice, a strikeout by Peters and a Stueber fly out ended the inning.

BREWERS 100-001-000-001=3-5-1

ESSIG 010-000-010-000=2-11-5

BREWERS: Tony Burt, Chris Peters (9) and Chris Peters, Scott Schaefer (9). ESSIG: Jacob Mertz, Dusty Fleck (9) and Larry Haala. 2B: Stueber 2 (E), Peters (NU).