Montgomery

ousts New Ulm

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

ST. CLOUD -- It wasn't the way the New Ulm Brewers wanted to end their season.

After a successful regular season, finishing with a 23-2 record and breezing through the Region 2C tournament, the success ended with a thud.

The Brewers lost to the Montgomery Mallards 7-4 in the first round of the Minnesota Class C Amateur Baseball Tournament at Joe Faber Field Saturday.

"This team came a long way," Brewers manager Chris Peters said. "It's hard to lose a game like this."

The Brewers struggled to get baserunners home. Meanwhile, the Mallards scattered 16 hits for seven runs off New Ulm pitching.

"We didn't start off like we should have," Peter said. "We didn't get the key hits. They made some plays. They got the hits. They beat us at our own game."

Ryan Walters took the loss, giving up four runs on seven hits in the first three innings; he struck out one and walked none. Jeremy Wieland relieved Walters in the fourth inning and gave up three runs -- all coming in the seventh inning -- on nine hits; Wieland issued three walks and struck out seven.

"Our pitching didn't start off the way I expected it to," Peter said. "But we always find a way to battle back. There were good innings, but they put up 16 hits. Our pitchers threw strikes and they keyed on that."

The Mallards jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Brewers got back into the game with a two-run sixth inning. Both runs came off a Mallard error.

But in the seventh inning, the Mallards buried the Brewers with three runs. The runs came off a Robert Weaver double and a Nick Worm two-RBI triple.

Weaver went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI for Montgomery. Worm went 3-for-3 and also hit two triples.

Five runs down, the Brewers didn't lie down. New Ulm got a run in the eighth inning. Brad Weber reached on a triple and Scott Schaefer brought him home with a sacrifice fly.

"We never game up. We always had runners on base, but we just never scored the run," Peters said.

The Brewers had chances in the ninth, but got only one run. Scott O'Brien scored Corey Schaefer on a sacrifice fly.

Weber went 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs for New Ulm. Corey Schaefer was 1-for-2 with a run scored.

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