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Bremen stuns Minster |
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Thursday, 03 July 2008 |
By BRIAN SMITH
Sports Editor
MINSTER — Calib Cox had nothing and everything to lose.
The sophomore stepped onto the mound in relief with his team just a hit away from losing in embarrassing ten-run fashion and he had to face a batter who had belted a two-run home run earlier in the game.
“I was afraid I was going to lose us the game, because we were about to get run-ruled,”Cox said.
After three innings of gutsy pitches, big hits and a little bit of luck, Cox and his teammates were running out of their dugout to celebrate the most improbable of victories over their rivals.
The New Bremen ACME baseball team rallied from a 12-3 deficit to beat Minster 13-12 in eight innings during a second-round game of the Auglaize County sectional ACME tournament at Minster on Wednesday night. The Cardinals advance to play Wapakoneta on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Minster’s Hanover Street Park in the winner’s bracket.
“Holy cow,” New Bremen coach Kevin Heitkamp said. “It’s just a never-say-die team. We told them they were beating themselves. That was the only reason we were down. They took it upon themselves to come back, put the bat on the ball and get them on, get them over and get them in. The pitching just got excellent. We quit walking guys and started making plays. We started making plays and good things happened.”
New Bremen (11-7) scored six runs in the sixth, three runs in the seventh and a run in the top of the eighth to over come a nine-run deficit.
And a lot of it had to do with Calib Cox’s performance on the mound and in the batter’s box.
Cox went 5-for-5 at the plate and rose to the game’s biggest occassion when he struck out Minster’s Jack Griner to end the fifth with the winning run at second base. Cox then struck out the side in the sixth to give the Cardinal offense a chance in the seventh.
The strategy?
“Just throw it as hard as I can. Hopefully they miss,” Cox said.
“Calib just rared back and threw,” Heitkamp said. “He’s thrown good all year. He’s the kind of kid who once he gets confidence, he’s just going to start rolling. We would have liked to of brought him in in a better situation, but he handled the situation as good as you would have liked him to handle it.”
Cox then singled in Jared Cox in the top of the eighth to give New Bremen a 13-12 lead. The hit turned out to be the game-winner.
The loss is hard to take, Minster coach Mark Wiss said.
“I told the kids we had to put them away when we got the chance and we didn’t do it,” Wiss said. “We got close, but didn’t do it.
Minster stranded 10 batters in the game.
“To their credit, they came back,” Wiss said. “Our pitching was less than what I’d hoped for. We threw two pretty reliable pitchers and neither one got the job done. New Bremen has been hitting the ball well over the last seven to 10 days.”
Minster now plays St. Marys on Friday at noon in the loser’s bracket game.
“It puts us in a bind,” Wiss said. “We’ve got to come through the loser’s bracket and we’ve got to come a long ways. But we’ll see what happens.”
Minster appeared to be headed for a date in the winner’s bracket several times — even with two outs in the top of the seventh inning. With the tying runs on second and third base in a 12-10 game and two outs, New Bremen leadoff hitter Corey Jutte hit what appeared to be a routine ground ball to shorstop that would have ended the game. The ball hit the lip of the grass as it met the infield dirt and took a giant hop over the head of shortstop Robert Gruber.
“It was an unlucky single that got the tying runs in, but shouldn’t have ever come close to being that close of a game,” Wiss said. “You can’t lose a nine-run lead, especially in the tournament.”
Calib Cox and Andy Timmerman scurried home without a throw and the game was tied at 12-12 just two innings after Minster took a commanding 12-3 lead.
A pair of left-handed hitters in the bottom of the Minster order did most of the damage for the Wildcats early in the game. Griner hit a home run and drove in three and Sam Otting went the other way twice for extra base hits to bring in four runs to help build that edge.
Minster designated hitter Jack Griner pelted a two-run home run near the flag poles in right centerfield to give Minster a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
New Bremen put together a two-our rally in the top of the third inning. After Corey Jutte got on base on a fielder’s choice, he stole second base and came home on a Dylan Crisp bloop single to centerfield to cut Minster’s lead to 2-1.
Minster scored five runs in the bottom of the third inning, bouncing New Bremen starter Dylan Crisp. Brian Phlipot started the inning with a single to left field, followed by a walk to Tim Brown. Austin Baumer followed that up with an RBI single to make it 3-0. A sac fly by Griner made it 4-1. Next, Sam Otting lined a double the other way to left center field to make it 5-1.
New Bremen scored two runs in the top of the fourth. Caleb Cox singled in a run, followed by a run scoring on a double play to make it 7-3.
Sam Otting went the other way again in the fourth to pick up a big two-out, bases-loaded double that brought in three runs and make it 10-3 in favor of the Wildcats.
Minster added two runs in the fifth inning when Phlipot collected his fourth hit of the game to drive in two runs and make it 12-3.
New Bremen jumped right back into the game in the top of the sixth inning with six runs. The big blow was a three-run triple by Corey Jutte to make it 12-8, followed by a single by Dylan Crisp that brought in Jutte. An RBI single by Zach Seigal and a bases-loaded RBI walk by Ryan Evers earlier in theinning brought in two runs.
Heitkamp and Cox both agreed that playing in a rivalry game helped the Cardinals once they got down by nine runs.
“It always helps,” Heitkamp said. “You know the kind of rivalry it is. It always gives you an extra boost, especially when you’re down.”
“The momentum swung to our side,” Cox said. “We kept getting hits and rallying back. It felt good. It feels great beating Minster in this kind of fashion when we’re down. We’ve got a great feeling in this park right now.”
New Bremen is 1-1 against Wapakoneta this season.
New Bremen used three pitchers. Dylan Crisp started and went two and one-third innings, followed by reliever Spencer Rohr, who worked one and two-third innings.
Cox worked the final three innings and a third innings in relief, striking out six batters.
Minster used four pitchers in the game. Eric Trushaw lasted five and one-third innings as the starter before he ran into trouble.
Minster got little relief from its bullpen. Josh Corbit, Bryan Phlipot and Robert Gruber pitched for Minster.
Bryan Phlipot was 4-for-5 for Minster at the plate with two RBIs.
Jutte was 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs for New Bremen.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 July 2008 )
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