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Monday, 14 April 2008 |
By BRIAN SMITH
Sports Editor
DAYTON — The ushers looked for the ball in the left field seats while the New Bremen Cardinals looked for an out and steady footing.
It took both a while.
Tyler Brown smacked a grand slam before an out was recorded in the bottom of the first inning and Jackson Center held on during a rocky final inning to pick up a 12-11 win over New Bremen (2-3) at Fifth Third Field in Dayton.
The slam went into the second row of seats in left field over the wall 338 feet from home plate, and took an inning for ushers to find.
“The grand slam took the wind out of our sails a bit,” New Bremen coach Greg Cox said. “We didn’t expect that to happen. The kid hit a good pitch and parked it out in the left field seats.”
Jackson Center improved to 2-4 on the season.
“It’s nice to play here and then when a kid gets up there and get the opportunity, it’s great,” Jackson Center coach Gregg Gooding said. “Tyler really put a charge into that ball. We got that lead and it helped us.”
The five-run first inning was set up by back-to-back errors by the Cardinals.
Two errors ont the first two defensive plays kind of put Brad Wendel’s back against the wall,” Cox said. “He had a tough time of getting out of that.”
New Bremen’s rally came up a run short in the seventh inning, when the Tigers turned a double play to end the game.
The Cardinals scored four runs in the seventh after going into the inning trailing 12-7.
Jackson Center went to Brown, the game’s offensive hero, to close things out on the mound. Things didn’t go as well for him on the mound.
Derek Bruggmen walked, Spencer Rohr singled to left field and Hank Zwiep walked to start the inning. After a fielder’s choice drove in a run, Anthony Moeder blasted a three-run double to right center to draw the Cardinals to within 12-11.
After Matt McCollum walked and Jackson Center brought Joel March back in to pitch, Wendel hit a ground ball right at the second baseman. He turned the 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
“I knew Joel could throw strikes and you’re fortunate when you get the good bounces,” Gooding said.
“We just dug ourselves too deep of a hole and couldn’t quite come back,” Cox said. “We tried to put ourselves in the situation to win it there in the last inning.”
New Bremen opened the top of the first inning with two runs, including one run after two batters.
Corey Jutte doubled to begin the game and Moeder doubled him home. Moeder went 3-for-4 in the game with two doubles and a triple.
Matt McCollum followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Cardinals.
“We came out of the gates looking pretty good,” Cox said.
The game was plagued with 13 combined errors — seven by the Cardinals. Jackson Center had just five hits compared to New Bremen’s 11, but the Tigers picked good spots to get those hits.
New Bremen scored a run in the third only to have it answered by Jackson Center.
When the Cardinals scored two in the fourthon RBIs from Moeder and Wendel, the Tigers answered back with three more runs.
New Bremen scored a pair of runs in the sixth on an RBI triple by Moeder and a sac fly by McCollum.
Cox said he tried to play as many players as he could. “Our bench is pretty deep. I can put those kids in and not have to worry about hurting our team.”
Joel March started the game for Jackson Center and pitched the first four innings before re-entering to close out the win.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 April 2008 )
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