May 05, 2007 - 04:15:00 CDT
Afan looked at the pitching matchup - Kyle Schroeder vs. ZachWentz - for Friday's baseball game between Dickinson and Century and had an instant analysis."It's going to be a low-scoring game."
Schroeder and Wentz made him a prophet, Dickinson winning a 2-1 nine-inning West Region pitchers' duel over Century at Municipal Ballpark.
Both teams scored in the first inning before Schroeder, a senior lefty, and Wentz, a junior right-hander, began hanging up goose eggs.
Cole Frenzel pulled a high first-pitch fastball from Wentz over the right field fence for a home run to put Dickinson up 1-0 in the first inning.
"One fastball early in the count to Cole Frenzel was the game-breaker," lamented Century coach Mike Gustavsson.
Century responded in the home first as Chris Wenzel sliced a leadoff triple to right-center and trotted home on Wentz's one-out single.
Then the pitchers took over -completely. Wentz blanked Dickinson for the next seven frames, yielding just four hits and allowing only one man to reach third base. For the game he struck out 14 and walked two.
Schroeder was even better, blanking Century on two hits over the final eight innings, walking one and striking out seven.
Finally, Wentz, who had talked Gustavsson into an eighth inning on the hill, was replaced with a pitch count of 127, 82 of them strikes.
Wenzel moved from left field to the mound for the ninth inning, and Dickinson's welcome was anything but cordial.
Alex Koppinger singled up the middle to open the top of the ninth. Jeff Kaiser dropped a sacrifice bunt to the right side, and Wenzel threw high over first baseman Marshall Klein's head, putting runners on second and third with no one out.
With the infield up, Wenzel coaxed a ground ball from Schroeder. Tyrel Gion, running for Koppinger, was retired in a rundown with Kaiser advancing to third and Schroeder reaching second.
Jamie Ollila then dumped a single into right-center, scoring Kaiser with what proved to be the game-winner. Schroeder was thrown out trying to score from second on Ollila's hit, but the big lefty had all the breathing room he needed.
Schroeder, breezed through the bottom of the ninth 1-2-3, using just 11 pitches.
The seventh inning nearly turned into Schroeder's Waterloo, but he prevailed.
Taylor Isakson singled and Drew Hausauer bunted for a hit to open Century's seventh. The two worked a double steal as Marshall Klein struck out.
Dickinson coach PeteDobitz intentionally walked RyanSweep to fill the bases and the next hitter, Evan Gesellchen, laid down a one-out suicide squeeze bunt, plating Isakson.
Isakson had barely crossed the plate, however, when Gesellchen was ruled out for leaving the batter's box to bunt the ball. The runners were returned to their bases and Schroeder got Wenzel on a ground ball to end the inning.
"We had chances to win it.We've just got to capitalize," Gustavsson said. "Early in the year we found a way to win in those situations. Now we're not."
Schroeder said he had plenty of gas in the tank. Because his arm felt good, he went to more fastballs as the game progressed. But he said it was his ability to blend his pitches that made him effective.
Schroeder said dueling Wentz was simply a blast.
"It was one of the funnest games I've ever played in," he said. "Ican't give enough credit to Wentz. He pitched a heck of a game."
The second game was a replica of the first, Sam Wagner pitching Century to a 2-1 win in a five-inning nonregional contest.
All told, Century managed only five hits in 14 innings of baseball on Friday, a fact not lost on Gustavsson.
"In conference games that's what we're averaging right now is five or six hits," Gustavsson said.
Dickinson 2, Century 1
Dickinson 100 000 001 - 2 7 1
Century 100 000 000 - 1 4 2
Kyle Schroeder and Alex Koppinger; Zach Wentz, Chris Wenzel (9) and Taylor Isakson. W - Schroeder, 2-1. L- Wenzel, 0-1. HR- Dickinson, Cole Frenzel.
Highlights:D -Frenzel 1-for-3, solo HR, first inning; Jamie Ollila 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 SB; Schroeder 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7SO. C - Wentz 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 SB; 8IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 14 SO; Wenzel 1-for-4, triple, 1 R; 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.
Century 2, Dickinson 1
Dickinson 000 01 - 1 4 0
Century 200 0x - 2 1 3
Tyson Meidinger, Michael Steve (1) and Dan Berg; Sam Wagner, Chris Wenzel (5) and Drew Hausauer. W-Wagner, 2-0. L- Meidinger, 1-1. Save - Wenzel. HR-None.
Highlights:D - Steve 1-for-2, 1 R; 4.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0BB, 6 SO; C - Hunter Johnson 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 SB; Hausauer 0-for-1, 1 RBI; Alex Allen 0-for-1, 1 RBI.
Records:Dickinson 8-2 West Region, 12-4 overall; Century 5-4, 11-7.
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