The Morris Eagles succeeded with a come-from-behind flourish in their 7/21 home game.
The score stood 4-3 with Morris down after five innings. Morris owned the rest of this game, plating two runs in the sixth, one in the seventh and three in the eighth, while blanking the Montevideo Spartans. The success was in the opening round of Canvas Division play in the Land O' Ducks post-season.
The Eagles began this game well enough as Dusty Sauter walked and made his way around the bases to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Leadoff man Dusty stole both second and third bases, then came home on a single off Kirby Marquart's bat.
The score became 2-0 in the second when Dusty was at the fore again, this time playing anything but "small ball." It's nice when a leadoff man demonstrates power. Dusty lined a solo homer to left. The Eagles climbed to a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Marquart connected for an RBI double.
Montevideo demonstrated power in the fifth to wipe out the Morris lead. Three Spartans crossed home plate on a long home run over the left field fence. Four runs total scored off Morris pitcher Nathan Gades, so this was a whole new ballgame with Morris now looking at a one-run deficit. Gades would hang in there to pitch a complete game. He'd need a little more offensive backing, and this was forthcoming in the sixth through eighth innings. Morris won this game 9-4.
Morris went to work in the sixth as Sauter socked an RBI triple and Marquart scored Sauter with a sacrifice fly. Morris, now in possession of the lead, added insurance with one swing of the bat in the seventh as Eric Asche homered to lead things off. The bottom of the eighth saw Marquart in his home run form. The brawny Marquart completed a memorable evening at bat (four-for-four) with a long home run to right center, good for adding three runs to the Morris total. Marquart had a double and six RBIs to go with that homer blast.
Sauter truly did the job of a leadoff man with three hits in four at-bats, two RBIs, three stolen bases and four runs scored. He kept pace with Marquart in the power department with a triple and home run.
At the bottom of the lineup, Jamie Van Kempen excelled with his two-for-three boxscore line with two runs scored and two stolen bases. Ryan Beyer and Eric Asche hit safely for the Eagles too. Morris had to survive five errors while Monte had none. The Morris hit total was eleven while Monte spanked seven hits. The Eagles were speed merchants on the basepaths with numerous stolen bases, led by Sauter.
Gades bore down after his shaky fifth inning on the mound. He got the "W" next to his name while fanning three batters, walking just one and allowing seven hits and the four Montevideo runs.
Humbled by the A's
The next day, July 22, saw Morris play one of its forgettable games, here, and it had a final score of 11-1 with Morris on the languishing end. Maybe they got some fielding lapses out of their system. Their fielding instincts seemed to desert them at times. Their line score showed six errors while the victor Appleton had zero.
The teams were pretty even in hitting.
Errors can spell unearned runs and this was certainly the case on this afternoon. Would you believe, ten unearned runs for Appleton? Hard-luck pitcher Matthew Carrington gave up all of these. He gave up just one earned run in his 6 2/3 innings of work. Kirby Marquart mopped up for the other 1/3 of an inning, and this game was mercifully over.
Carrington struck out four batters and walked two. The pitching loss was his first of the summer.
The top of the seventh was when the wind really got into Appleton's sails, with a little help from those Morris errors of course. Eagles fans winced when a pop fly was dropped with the bases loaded.
Eagles hitting safely in this game were Dusty Sauter, Ryan Beyer, Eric Asche, Craig Knochenmus, Brett Anderson and Jamie Van Kempen.
The Eagles would discover their winning personality subsequently. Viva Morris Eagles baseball for the summer of 2012!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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