Jul 04, 2006 - 02:09:34 CDT
"Let the game come to you," cautions an old sports axiom. In other words, don't force things.The game walked right up to Zach Wentz on Monday and sat in his lap. Wentz took full advantage of the situation to give the Bismarck Governors a 10-8 Legion baseball victory over Mandan at Memorial Ballpark.
Wentz, a big right-hander, picked up the pitching victory with two and two-thirds strong innings of relief and cracked the key hit in Bismarck's winning three-run eight-inning rally.
Mandan was up 8-7 when Bismarck came alive in the top of the eighth. Cody Erhardt opened the inning with a single and, with one out, Mandan pitcher Ryan Schnell hit Tim Jallen with a pitch.
That brought up Wentz, the cleanup man. Wentz cracked a 0-and-1 curve to the wall in right-center, putting the Governors up 9-8. Dustin Wenzel followed with an RBI single and Wentz had a two-run cushion.
"I kept coming up with runners on base and they kept giving me outside pitches and I kept going with it," Wentz said.
Schnell followed that pattern in the eighth. "He kept it away from me and gradually through the game I got more comfortable with it," Wentz said. "If that's the way they're going to pitch me I'll go with it."
Wentz was all business in the bottom of the ninth, retiring Mandan 1-2-3 with a strikeout. He fanned five in his relief stint.
He said he went heavily to his fastball as a reliever. "When they gave me the nod I didn't want to walk anybody," Wentz said. "My fastball had some pop on it and I was hitting spots."
Runs were plentiful in the early going. The teams battled to a 4-4 standoff after two innings, Mandan pounding out six hits and Bismarck scoring four unearned tallies.
Torey Bohan's RBI double was the key hit as the Governors struck for three runs in the top of the first The rally was set up by a pair of throwing errors by Mandan third baseman Jared Quast and a single by Tim Jallen. Another throwing error by Quast in the second led to another unearned run.
Mandan answered via a two-run home run over the left field screen by Paul Moch in the first and two more runs in a three-hit second. Singles by Steve Pletan, Mark Frenzel and Mike Quast produced one run and Brandon Coyle's sacrifice fly plated the second run of the second inning.
Bismarck took a 7-4 advangage in the fourth as Wentz swatted a two-run single amid a three-run rally.
Mandan got two of those back in the home fourth on an RBI double by Moch and a run-scoring single by Ryne Jungling. Moch's double narrowly missed leaving the park, hitting high off the left field screen.
Reliever Matt Kranzler gave Bismarck two shutout frames, but he left with one out in the seventh after giving up a single to Jungling and a double to Pletan.
Jungling scored on a passed ball as Bohan let a pitch from Wentz go to the screen. A single by Chad Brucker put Mandan in the lead 8-7 as Pletan scored.
Schnell was unable to make the advantage stand up, however, as the visiting Governors came clawing back in the eighth.
Wentz, who threw 43 pitches, 30 for strikes, said he'll be ready to work in relief again today if coach Mike Skytland needs him.
"In a closer role I could throw three innings," he said.
The two teams clash again in another nine-inning game at about 4 p.m. today in Mandan. Right-hander Matt Loomis (2-0) is Bismarck's probable starter. Mandan's tentative starter is right-hander Andrew Tweet (3-1).
Bismarck now has a 2-0 edge on Mandan this season. The Governors downed Mandan 13-9 in their first encounter in mid-June.
Today's game will be preceded by a 1:30 preliminary between the Bismarck Reps and the Mandan A's.
Between games two players - Bill Block and Chuck Mischel - are slated for induction to the Mandan American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame. Block, who lives in St. Paul, Minn., caught for Mandan from 1961 to 1965. Mischel, who resides in Bismarck, was an infielder for the Chiefs from 1976 to 1981. Their induction brings the membership in the Mandan hall to 14.
Bismarck 310 000 030 - 10 11 1
Mandan 220 200 200 - 8 4 4
Josh Standing Elk, Matt Kranzler (5), Zach Wentz (7) and Torey Bohan; Ryan Schnell and Ryne Jungling. W - Wentz, 3-1. L - Schnell, 0-4. HR - Mandan, Paul Moch.
Highlights: B - Justin Connell 3-for-5, double, 2 R; Bohan 1-for-5, double, 1 RBI; Wentz 3-for-4, double, triple, 1 R, 4 RBIs; 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO. M - Brandon Coyle 2-for-4, double, 2 R, 1 RBi; Moch 3-for-5, double, 2-R HR, first inning, 2 R, 3 RBIs; Jungling 3-for-5, double, 1 R, 1 RBI; Steve Pletan 2-for-5, double, 2 R.
Records: Bismarck 4-6 West Region, 15-13 overall; Mandan 3-7, 12-16.
Reps 15, A's 0
Bismarck Reps pitcher J.B. Johnston put some drama into a blowout in the preliminary, throwing a no-hitter.
Johnston, a 5-foot-11, 155-pound lefty, walked five, struck out three and hit a batter. He fanned the last man he faced, getting Matt Bosch on a swinging third strike.
"It was a regular old fastball. I guess it just came off nice," he said of the strikeout pitch on Bosch.
The first two outs of the inning came via a sparkling catch by center fielder Drew Hausauer. Hausauer charged a sinking liner off the bat of Sam Salveson and made a diving grab just above the grass. Springing to his feet, Hausauer fired to first base to doubled up David Stockdill.
Johnston, now 4-0, said he had previously thrown a no-hitter "in Babe Ruth (baseball) or something."
Salveson's shot was a sure basehit in Johnston's estimation. "I thought it was (a single). The same thing in the second inning when that guy (Tony Fleck) hit the ball to center field. But it just stayed up forever."
Nate Schlosser, then the center fielder, ran down Fleck's drive in deep left-center.
The Reps supported Johnston with a 14-hit attack that enabled them to end the game an inning early via the 10-run rule.
Bismarck 213 018 - 15 14 2
Mandan 000 000 - 0 0 1
J.B. Johnston and Tyler Johnson; Tony Fleck, Jason Mellmer (4), Jeff Werner (6), Kyle Jefferson (6) and Matt Bosch. W - Johnston. L - Fleck. HR - None.
Highlights: B - Darron Olson 2-for-4, 2 doubles, 2 R, 2 RBIs, 1 SB; Drew Hausauer 3-for-5, 2 triples, 2 R, 2 RBIs; Tyler Johnson 2-for-4, triple, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB; Alex Allen 2-for-2, double, triple, 1 R, 2 RBIs; Brendon Bohn 2-for-2, double, 1 R, 1 RBI; Johnston 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 4 SO.
Records: Reps 13-10, A's 8-17.
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