Lamberton outlasts Sleepy Eye to advance

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

LAMBERTON -- Lamberton's Mike Samyn slammed into Sleepy Eye catcher Jake Bohnen, Bohnen's mask flying off and the ball rolling helplessly away.

Samyn scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning, sending the Regtion 2C amateur baseball game between Lamberton and Sleepy Eye into extra innings Saturday.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Brady Schwab, Lamberton's draftee from Springfield, hit a base hit to right field to score Matt Samyn, who had hit a double, to win the game 6-5.

"We had faced him [pitcher Dean Brinkman] in the last game, and I kind of had a feeling that he'd throw a fastball after walking the last guy," Schwab said. "I had to be aggressive in that situation."

Lamberton will host Essig at 2 p.m. today to decide second place and which team will advance to the state tournament.

"I kind of thought there would be a play at the plate; the guys behind me have been hitting really well," Mike Samyn said of his play at the plate. "I had it in mind that I would hit him if it was a close play -- you gotta do what you gotta do to put a run on the board."

Samyn went 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI, two runs and was hit once. Schwab went 1-for-1 with an RBI, one run scored and a walk.

"Our draftees were huge today -- you couldn't have asked more from two draftees," Mike Samyn said. "Jesse [Berg] pitched great and Brady got the winning run."

Berg, a draftee from Springfield, pitched the last four innings, striking out four and giving up just one hit. He had relieved Jon Hansen, who went the first seven, giving up five runs on eight hits, three walks, striking out five.

The Indians had taken charge of the game at the start, scoring two in the first after Jadon Witte had a double and Brian Hertling was hit by a pitch. Both scored on singles by Kelly Krzmarzick and Josh Hadley. In the second, Loren Havemeier scored after hitting a double to left. Then in the fifth, Havemeier scored again after a Lamberton throwing error. After five, the score was 4-0.

"We were pretty tense for the first five innings," Lamberton's Mike Samyn said.

With a hefty lead, Sleepy Eye seemed to relax a little.

"I think we just got too confident," Havemeier said. "By the sixth and seventh innings, we thought we had it in the bag and we relaxed, which hurt us defensively."

Lamberton scored all its runs in the second half of the game. Down 4-0, Mike Samyn hit a double to center to score Derrick Jenniges from second. Then after Andy Konz replaced draftee Gabe Hirsch on the mound, Tyson Kassel's single scored Samyn to make it 4-2.

In the seventh, Bohnen's double scored Brian Hertling, and Lamberton answered with a run in the bottom fot he seventh to retain the Indians' two-run lead. A Sleepy Eye throwing error, a walk, a hit batter and a mental error helped the Long Sox score and load the bases, but they could get no more in the seventh.

In the ninth, Brady Schwab walked and scored before Mike Samyn scored the tying run in the ninth.

"We left a lot of runners stranded; that was our biggest problem," Havemeier said. "We just didn't get hits when we needed them."

Sleepy Eye stranded 10 runners, and the Long Sox left 17 on base in the game. Lamberton left the bases loaded in the seventh, ninth and 10th innings.

The starting pitcher for the Indians was Gabe Hirsch of Leavenworth, who went five innings, giving up one run, two hits, one walk, and struck out nine. Andy Konz pitched the sixth and seventh, giving up two runs on two hits, a walk and a hit batter. He struck out two. Brinkman took the loss, pitching four innings, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks with one strikeout.