A'S WIN OPENER
2009-05-28
An unexpected turn of events found the Sheboygan A's playing their 2009 season opener on their home turf Thursday night.
The Little Chute River Bandits were to host the game, but their unplayable field resulted in a last-minute decision to play the game at Wildwood.
It was the third game of the evening on the field and it didn't get started until after 8:30 p.m., but all the last minute hassle was worth it as the A's came away an 11-2 winner.
While Little Chute is far from a powerhouse ball club and the A's didn't have a good night either at the plate or afield, they did some good things.
First, their pitching was outstanding. A's hurlers fanned 17 of the first 18 batsmen they faced and finished with 18 strikeouts for the evening. Further, they allowed only two hits and one earned run.
Zach Hoch started and got his first nine outs via strikeouts, but, accustomed to relieving, he tired in the fouth and an error, three walks and a lead-off base hit by Ben Stuckey enabled the River Bandits to get their two runs for the evening. Derrick Pankow pitched the middle three inings, striking out eight and giving up just one hit to get the win. Lucas Petrie finished with three scoreless innings.
Second, third and fourth "good things" were just examples of little things -- execution and hustle -- that left some positive impressions about skipper Chad Gehr's 2009 ball club. Little things like Matt Schilter's 2-strike ground ball to the right side that scored a run from third; like Ryan Schmitz' soft hit to right field that saw him sliding safe for a hustling double; like a perfectly executed rundown led by Jordan Rennicke that left two River Bandits claiming rights to third base; like some good at bats that worked pitchers -- most notably Lucas Wilsing's in the eighth inning that may not have resulted in a hit but did result in a half dozen foul balls before the pitcher conceded and threw one up the slot that Wilsing lined to center for an out on what may have been the best-hit ball of the night; and like Greg Blohowiak's hustling, diving catch of a line drive for the game's final out even with his team leading comfortably. There were a few errors and a few over-anxious plate appearances, but there were a lot good things to report. The fans who stuck out the long night left with a good first impression of this hustling, savvy 2009 crew of Sheboygan A's.
The A's blew up the game when they scored six runs in the third inning. Three walks, a wild pitch, two errors, two hits and a sacrifice fly put up the 6-spot. RBI's were recorded by Tim Patzman's base hit, Wilsing's bases-loaded walk and Schmitz' sacifice fly. The River Bandits never really challenged after that.
Schilter drove in two runs with two singles and a double, Schmitz had a single, double and sacrifice fly and Patzman two base hits. The A's travel to De Pere Sunday for a doubleheader.
Sheboygan (ab r h rbi): Schilter 2b 6 2 3 2, Albright cf 3 0 0 0, Patzman lf 6 2 2 1, Wilsing 1b 4 2 0 1, Rennicke c, 6 1 0 0, Schmitz ss, 5 0 2 1, Kramsky dh 1 1 0 0, Depies dh 2 1 0 0, Hunt rf 2 1 0 0, Blohowiak rf 2 0 1 0, Gardner 3b 1 1 0 0, Marshall 3b 3 0 0 0, Hoch p 0 0 0 0, Pankow p 0 0 0 0, Petrie p 0 0 0 0. Totals 40 11 8 5.
Little Chute (ab r h rbi): Weyers ss 5 0 1 0, Stuckey cf 4 1 1 0, Franzky 3b 3 1 0 0, Bestul 1b 3 0 0 0, Libbon 1b 1 0 0 0, Boris c 3 0 0 1, Kuchelmeister lf 3 0 0 1, Brocker dh 2 0 0 0, VandenBogard rf 4 0 0 0, Carney 2b 2 0 0 0, Jansen 2b 1 0 0 0, p 0 0 0 0, First p 0 0 0 0, Peotter p 0 0 0 0. Totals 31 2 2 2,
Sheboygan 006 010 103 - 11 8 4
Little Chute 000 200 000 - 2 2 8
E - Schmitz 2, Hunt, Weyers 4, Bestul, Libbon, Jansen. LOB - Sheboygan 12, Little cChute 8, 2B- Schmitz, Schilter. S-Albright. SF-Schmitz, SB-A - Albright 1-1.
Sheboygan (ip h r er bb so). Hoch 3 1 2 1 4 9, Pankow (W, 1-0) 3 1 0 0 0 8, Petrie (S, 1) 3 0 0 0 2 1. Little Chute First 5 3 6 5 4 2, Peotter 5 5 5 2 3 3. HBP - Wilsing (by Peotter). WP-First, Peotter. Umpires-Home Mike Martin, Bases Herb Roerdink. T-2:59. A-50.
