By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON-The Ashwaubenon A’s baseball team came back from a four-run deficit to defeat the Gibraltar Vikings by a final of 8-7 Tuesday evening (June 19) at Ashwaubomay Park.
The A’s started Marty Kiernan on the mound and he quickly struck out two of the first three batters he faced.
In the bottom of the first, Will Adair hit a two out single to the outfield to keep the inning alive.
After a successful steal, Alex Dill stepped to the plate and hit a chopper to second.
The ball was slightly mishandled, and Dill was called safe at the bag.
With two runners on, Luke Hansford connected on an inside pitch that stayed fair down the right field line.
The shot scored two runs and the A’s grabbed the early momentum.
After a scoreless second, the Vikings Paul Hartmann led off with a single to center field.
That was followed by back to back singles by Alex Laughlin and Spencer Krause loading the bases.
Two shallow fly-outs later, the A’s remained unscathed on the scoreboard.
However, a wild pitch then sent one runner home, and hit by Luke Steebs that scored two, suddenly put the A’s in a 3-2 deficit after three innings.
“We played some guys early in the game that don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” said Ben Perry, A’s Baseball Coach. “It was a chance for the coaching staff to see what the guys could bring to the field.”
Amidst a couple of pitching changes, the A’s trailed by only one run heading to the top of the fifth as the rain started to fall.
That’s when things started to become dicey.
The A’s pitchers gave up three hits and two wild pitches as the Vikings added three more runs to take a 6-2 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, the A’s started to chip away at the deficit.
Dill led off with a walk.
Hansford advanced on a single when the Viking’s right fielder dropped the fly-ball.
After a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third, Logan Blazek (pinch hitting) hit a scorching double to score two runs and bring the A’s back to 6-4.
With two outs in the inning, and Blazek having advanced to third, Karch Van Dalen hit what looked to be a routine play for the Vikings short stop.
He casually threw the ball over the head of the first basemen, though, scoring Blazek.
The Vikings then got of the inning but not before the A’s had trimmed the margin to 6-5.
“I was happy at how we got our bats going at key moments during the sixth,” added Perry. “It gave us a chance heading into our last at bat.”
The Vikings weren’t about to go down without a fight themselves.
They notched a single run in their top half of the inning to increase the margin to two runs (7-5).
The A’s knew they needed at least two runs to send the game into extra innings or they could score three and come out victorious.
Adair got the A’s going in the right direction with a single to center field.
That was followed by another single by Cole Swanson.
A wild pitch ensued, and suddenly the winning run was at the plate.
Hansford walked, and then Riley Siudzinski took a high heater and sent the ball 290 feet just out of the outstretched hands of the center-fielder.
It scored both Adair and Swanson and the score was notched at seven apiece.
After a pop-up out of play, Van Dalen stepped into the box.
With one out, and Hansford on third, Van Dalen hit a fly ball that was caught by the left outfielder.
He whipped the ball home, but it was too late as Hansford touched home plate for the winning run!
“I’m proud of the fight the guys showed tonight in the final couple of innings,” said Perry. “We hung together and got a couple of key hits when it mattered most.”
The A’s advance to 4-2 on the season.
Box Score
Ashwaubenon 2,0,0 0,0,3 3 8
Gibraltar 0,0,3 0,3,0 1 7
