Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Coldwater and New Knoxville to meet next
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Lehman's Kaleb Goins, 18, gets back to first base before New Knoxville's Lucas Leffel, right, can make the catch during ACME District Tournament action in Minster on Wednesday. New Knoxville won 2-0.
MINSTER - Coldwater and New Knoxville will face off against each other in one winner's bracket semifinal on Saturday as the teams posted wins in their opening games of the ACME District 4 Baseball Tournament at Hanover Street Park in Minster on Wednesday.
In the opening game, Coldwater's Reese Klenke threw a four-hitter and a seven-run sixth inning allowed the Cavaliers to post a 12-2 run-rule win over Van Wert.
In the nightcap, New Knoxville's Addison Wolf outdueled Lehman's David Spearman, throwing a complete game four-hit shutout as the Rangers downed Lehman, 2-0.
Coldwater and New Knoxville will meet Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the second winner's bracket semifinal of the day. The winner moves on to play the winner of the opening winner's bracket game between Crestview and Wapakoneta, which starts at 11 a.m., on Sunday at 1 p.m. The loser comes right back on Saturday and plays the winner of tonight's St. Henry-Fort Loramie loser's bracket game on Saturday at approximately 4 p.m.
Coldwater 12, Van Wert 2
After the Cougars got a run in the top of the first, Coldwater went right to work in the bottom of the inning, going ahead for good with three runs. Keith Wenning drove in Jordan Woeste with a double and later scored on Adam Rammel's grounder to second. Aaron Rammel scored on a wild pitch.
That was all Klenke would need as the junior-to-be scattered just two hits over the final five innings, allowing a run in the fifth. Klenke walked just one and struck out 10 Cougar batters.
"We hit the ball late. We didn't hit it well early," said Coldwater coach Tom Brunswick. "We got a great pitching performance from Reese. I really liked his mentality of going after the hitters tonight. He got in a couple situations where he worked himself through it."
After getting two more runs in the third, the Cavaliers capped off the game by sending 12 men to the plate in the bottom of the sixth, scoring seven times to hit the 10-run mark to end the game early. Aaron Rammel had an RBI double and Chad Westgerdes drove in two with a single to make it 11-2. After Woeste reached on a fielder's choice, Aaron Rammel drove in Alex Kramer to make it 12-2 and ended the game with two outs in the sixth.
"I thought we ran the bases pretty well tonight," said Brunswick, a reference to the 11 stolen bases recorded by the Cavaliers. "We were aggressive and got a lot of steals.
"We get a chance to move on to Saturday. We should be rested and ready to play."
Westgerdes, Woeste, Aaron Rammel and Wenning each collected two hits, with Wenning scoring three times in the game. Adam Rammel, who stole four bases in the game, joined Wenning and Westgerdes in driving in two runs.
New Knoxville 2, Lehman 0
Both the Rangers' Wolf and Lehman's Spearman came up with stellar performances, but Wolf came out the winner thanks to solid all-around play by New Knoxville. Wolf struck out 11 batters and walked four in the four-hit shutout while Spearman walked just one in throwing the five-hitter with eight punchouts.
The Rangers used solid two-out hitting to produce the two runs. In the top of the first, Marcus Reineke got a one-out single. After Jake Lawler struck out and Reineke stole second, Bill Ray singled to right, allowing Reineke to score the opening run.
The insurance run came in the second. With one away, Doug Homan reached base via an error. After Lucas Leffel grounded out, Zach Allen doubled in Homan for the second run.
"We had some timely hitting at the beginning of the game," said Ranger coach Clark Fronning. "That was the difference."
That would be the last bit of offense for New Knoxville, as Spearman allowed just one hit and a walk for the final five innings.
Wolf worked through the first four innings with very few issues. Things changed in the fifth as Eddie Baker walked to lead off, then on a Reid Owen grounder, Wolf's throw to second pulled the defender off the bag, leaving all hands safe. After getting an out, Tyler Steinke singled to load the bases. However, Wolf got Wil Fridley to strikeout before Kaleb Goins lofted a deep fly to right that Brian Bambauer easily snagged to the end the inning.
"Addison made the big pitches when he needed to," said Fronning. "He's a power pitcher. He can throw the ball by people. That's what you need when you have guys on base."
Lehman got two runners on in the sixth, but Wolf struck out back-to-back batters to end the inning, then struck out two of the three batters faced in the bottom of the seventh to end the game and get the win.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Aaron Rammel, right, catches the ball at first base as Van Wert's Tanner Laemle, left, hustles back to the base during ACME District Tournament action in Minster on Wednesday. Coldwater won 12-2 in six innings.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Reese Klenke, 16, slides into home plate safely in the third inning ahead of Van Wert's Tyler Paige, back, during ACME District 4 Baseball Tournament action at Minster's Hanover Street Park on Wednesday. Coldwater got strong pitching and used a seven-run sixth inning to knock off Van Wert, 12-2 in six innings.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Jordan Woeste connects for a hit during the seven-run sixth inning for the Cavaliers in their 12-2 win over Van Wert.
