by Willy » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:16 am
WEST COMES BACK IN SEVENTH
Jun 11, 2007 - 07:07:48 CDT
By STEVETHOMAS
BismarckTribuneJames and John, the biblical Sons of Thunder, were two in number.
The WesternDivision Legion baseball sons of thunder number at least three -AndyLeer, Tyler Liffrig andZac Elgie.
However, it took the power-laden West lineup six innings to get rolling on Sunday. Once the West hitters kicked into gear, though, they thumped their way to a 9-5 victory in the East-West Legion All-Star Game at Mandan.
East pitchers Sean Potter and AlexKreis of Grand Forks, Anthony Kliniske of Grafton and Dave Gulden of Wahpeton held the West to four hits through the first six innings of the all-star contest at Memorial Ballpark.
In the seventh, however, the West caught up to lefty Andrew Herian of Fargo. Nine hitters went to the plate against Herian, who was charged with six earned runs. The West drilled five hits in the decisive inning, including Leer's RBItriple and Teddy Anderson's two-run homer.
"It seemed like we were playing with wood bats again,"Anderson said, harking back to the high school season. "Then I think we just started picking things up and hitting the ball harder. We were just feeling better at the plate."
Anderson, a Minot infielder who bats left, pulled a Herian pitch over the right field wall for the West's final two runs.
"I was down 0-and-2 in the count and I was just looking to put it in play," Anderson said. "AllI know is it was inside and I got the barrel of the bat on it. ... He's a lefty so Iknew Ihad to keep my shoulder in."
Minot's Kory Houston got the winning rally going, working Herian for a one-out walk. He advanced to second base via a passed ball and scored as Josh Lagein of Devils Lake singled. That broke a 3-3 tie.
Leer, from Williston, tripled to the wall in right-center to send home Lagein. Liffrig, also from Williston, singled in Leer and it was 6-3. ZachWentz of Bismarck singled to move up Liffrig, who scored when Minot's Elgie forced Wentz at second base. That set the stage for Anderson's round-tripper.
Liffrig, with two singles, was the only West player with more than one hit. Billy Sholl of Fargo and JustinRheault of West Fargo rapped two singles apiece for the East.
East coach BillIbach of Fargo said he stacked the front end of his pitching lineup to keep the West from developing momentum early in the game.
"My thinking was the West is strong and I wanted to make it competitive from the get-go,"Ibach said. "I didn't want them to bury us early.I didn't want that six-spot to come in the first or second inning."
Ibach said he also tried to be aware of when his pitchers last worked or when they were scheduled to pitch again.
"Brady Schoeler (of Jamestown)pitched yesterday ... and I didn't want to use anyone for more than two innings,"he said.
West coach Todd Larson of Minot was cognizant of similar constraints.
"We were kind of short-staffed,"Larson said. "We had a lot of kids who threw recently. Jared Quast threw yesterday for Mandan and Zac Elgie threw for us and McHale Maristuen (of Williston)just pitched a couple of days ago."
All told, six pitchers from the East and eight from the West made appearances. Sean Potter of Grand Forks, Anthony Kliniske of Grafton and Jordan Martinson of Minot were the only hurlers to put in more than an inning.
Larson said he was gratified to see his players didn't treat the all-star game like an exhibition or scrimmage. "It was fun to be around them," he said. "They play the game hard, the way it's meant to be played."
Ibach agreed the game was an enjoyable experience.
"It was fun to get to know some of these kids from the East that we normally just play against," he said. "It was fun to sit in the dugout and see what makes them tick."
East 100 020 020 - 5 9 3
West 010 101 60x - 9 9 1
Sean Potter, Alex Kreis (3), Anthony Kliniske (4), Dave Gulden (6), Andrew Herian (7), TimRude (8) and AndySadler, Andrew Lick (6); ZachWentz, Matt Loomis (2), JordanMartinson(3), McHale Maristuen (5), Zac Elgie (6), Jared Quast (7), Ryne Hornecker (8), CodyErhardt (9) andElgie, Torey Bohan (5). W - Quast. L- Herian. HR- East, Gulden;West, TeddyAnderson.
Highlights: East -BillySholl 2-for-3, 1 R; JustinRheault 2-for-3; Herian 1-for-2, double, 1 R; Gulden 1-for-2, solo HR, eighth inning;Potter 2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO; Kreis 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO; Kliniske 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO; Rude 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0BB, 0 SO.West -AndyLeer 1-for-5, triple, 1 R,1 RBI; Bohan 1-for-2, double, 1 RBI; Tyler Liffrig 2-for-3, 4 R, 1 RBI; Anderson 1-for-2, 2-R HR, seventh inning; Elgie 1-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBIs; 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO; Loomis 1 IP, 0 H, 0R, 2 BB, 1 SO; Martinson 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO; Quast 1 IP, 0 H, 0R, 2 BB, 0 SO; Erhardt 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO.
