Sleepy Eye

beats Gold

Win assures Sleepy Eye berth in state

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

FAIRMONT -- Sunday afternoon, one team came to play, the other did not.

Sleepy Eye Post 7 scored runs in the first three innings and four runs in the top of the seventh to down a listless New Ulm Gold team 9-5 in the winner's bracket game of the Second District American Legion Baseball Tournament.

With the win, Sleepy Eye is assured of a berth in the State American Legion Baseball Tournament Aug. 9-13 in Rochester and Austin.

Gold, now 28-4 on the season, needs to defeat the winner of New Ulm Blue-Blue Earth next weekend to gain a state tournament trip. District Two will send two teams this year.

Chad Armbruster was the winning pitcher for Sleepy Eye in relief of starter Andy Konz who went four innings and gave up four runs on five hits. Armbruster allowed only one run on four hits in the win.

Bobby Wellmann was tagged for the loss for Gold, pitching into the seventh inning and yielding six runs.

David Haala led Sleepy Eye with three hits and four RBI and belted a then-game tying solo home run in the sixth inning.

Cody Walter added two hits while Joe Heiderscheit drove in two runs.

Travis Thorson had three hits for New Ulm with teammate Rob Geistfeld adding two hits and two RBI.

" Our kids played flawlessly," said Sleepy Eye Coach John Hirschboeck. "We did have a couple of errors that gave New Ulm a couple of runs. But we shored that up and got some hits when we needed it. Our pitching was good again and our hitting was also strong again."

Gold coach Dave Kunz had little to say after his team's disappointing performance.

"They got the pitching, the hitting and the defense, and they made the plays when they needed them," he said. "Your guess is as good as mine what happened today."

What happened was that Sleepy Eye, which New Ulm beat 15-2 earlier in the year, simply played better.

That performance started in the first inning when Sleepy Eye wasted little time in getting to the normally reliable Wellmann for a run.

Cody Walter led off with a single to left, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored on an Andy Konz groundout.

Post 7 then added two more runs in the second when Steve Eckstein reached on an error by third baseman Travis Thorson. He scored on a Dave Haala double. Haala,who went to third on the throw home, then scored on a double play.

New Ulm mustered a run in the bottom of the inning when Thorson laced a one-out double and went to third on a Rob Geistfeld fly out. He scored on a Craig Spelbrink bloop single.

But Sleepy Eye would respond with a run in the third. Konz reached on an infield hit and was sacrificed to second by Darrin Haala. Another Wellmann wild pitch moved him to third and a Chad Armbruster sacrifice fly gave Sleepy Eye a 4-1 lead.

New Ulm then tied the game with three runs in the third. Eric Austvold reached on an error and a one-out, two-base throwing error by Josh Hadley allowed Austvold to score. Jamie Hoffmann reached on an infield hit and stole second. A Thorson single and a suicide squeeze bunt by Geistfeld tied the game.

New Ulm took its only lead of the game at 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Thorson singled with two outs and scored on Geistfeld's double.

But it could have been more except that for the second time in the game, a New Ulm player was picked off first. This one hurt as it occurred prior to Thorson's single and Geistfeld's double.

But that lead was short lived. Wellmann, who had settled down after a shakey start, was cruising along having recorded his sixth strikeout of the game in the sixth inning for the first out. But he made a mistake to Dave Haala who drilled a 1-0 Wellmann pitch over the fence in left center to tie the game at 5-5.

Cody Walter's leadoff double in the seventh ended Wellmann's night. Reliever John Enter hit Darrin Haala with a one-out pitch. After a popout, an error, a base hit, a walk and a two-run single by Joe Heiderscheit gave Post 7 that 9-5 lead.

"We have played a lot better since we were 10-runned (by New Ulm)," said Hirschboeck. "We knew that we could give them a game. And we did."

SLEEPY EYE 121-001-4=9-9-3

NEW ULM GOLD 013-010-0=5-8-4