Tough Loss Against a Near Perfect Dow Outfield

A tough 2-0 loss at Hartman Park last night for the MBC 16's.  We did not know at the time, but the game was over earlier than the amazing hour and fifteen minutes that it took to play.

Three mistakes, all made early, made the difference in a night when both starting pitchers; Nick Salle for MBC and Jacob Jensen for Dow threw strong complete games.

MBC tried early and tried too soon. Dylan Vchulek led off with a walk. Dylan moved to second on a hit and run with Nick Salle.  Reliable Adam "Wee Man" Hintorne spanked a "too sharp" single up the middle and in his impatience (after waving 23 runs in the night before) coach Cougan waived the speedy Dylan home.  Dow's center fielder Daniel Frederickson threw a bullet to home and Cameron Gale applied the tag on a bang bang play to nip Dylan.  Of course Stuart Fairchild followed with a base hit and was then stranded; thank you for the lesson, Baseball Gods.

Cameron Gale led the Dow first inning off with a walk (Nick's only walk of the night and one of only two mistakes) and moved to second on a single from Matt Ahlquist.  Both moved up a base on Nick's only other mistake of the night, a wild pitch.  This set the stage for that MBC Killer, Daniel Frederickson to hit a sac fly to score one run.  Ahlquist moved up as well and scored on an infield out to finish all scoring for the night.  Nobody knew it then, but the game was over that fast.

Dow's outfield and Jacob Jenson then proceeded to stymie MBC all night.

Nick Reeves led off the second inning with a hard smash down the left field line. Great hustle and a perfect throw from Kenji Walker nipped Nick at second to thwart that inning.

MBC tried to get busy in the third inning after Dylan Vchulek's double, but were thwarted when Christian Higgens ran down Stuart Fairchild's smash in the right field corner.

In the fourth David Becker was the victim, as the speedy Frederickson ran down his potential RBI extra base hit in the right center gap.

The game ended in fitting fashion.  Trying their best to mount a come back, but down to two outs, Andrew Helean drove a ball to the wall in left only to watch  Kenji Walker make a running catch on his drive and ram into the fence.

Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to an opponent and know that you gave it your best and they made all the plays.