Falk shines on mound, at plate in victory

NEW BREMEN - Peter Falk hit a triple that led to a run in the top of the third inning and then he struck out the New Bremen side in the bottom half.

That was just one of several great innings for Falk, whose complete-game two-hitter and 15 strikeouts paved the way for Minster to post a 6-0 win over the Cardinals Tuesday night in Auglaize County ACME action.

"Basically the story of the game was Peter," Minster coach Mark Wiss said. "He hit a nice triple offensively and he really commanded the strike zone, and he made some nice plays. When they did put the ball in play, he fielded his position very well."

Falk allowed a total of four base runners and saw his no-hit bid broken up in the sixth on a single by Wyatt Puthoff. Deion Hoehne had a base hit two at-bats later to put runners on first and third but Falk ended the inning with a 1-3 putout. The Minster righty sat down the Cardinals 1-2-3 in the seventh and put the finishing touches on his gem with back-to-back strikeouts.

Falk struck out the sides in the third and fifth innings and fanned eight of the first 10 batters he faced.

"He throws a pretty straight fastball but its got some speed to it," New Bremen coach Eric Nelson said. "Our guys have proved so far this year that speed is not their game. We can't catch up to that speed yet. We're not at that level."

"Peter Falk pitched a great game for us," Wiss praised. "He really commanded well, threw a lot of strikes. He worked ahead of hitters."

Jared Huelsman scored the first run of the game on a delayed double steal of second and home. In the third, Falk knocked a triple over the head of the Cardinal left-fielder and later scored on a double by Aaron Ernst for a 2-0 lead.

Hoehne pitched a complete game for the Cardinals but struggled in the fourth inning, and the Wildcats pounced. Hoehne hit two batters, gave up two singles and walked one in that stretch. Isaac Schmiesing had an RBI single, Brett Hoelscher brought one across with a bases-loaded walk and a ground out by Falk scored another.

"(Hoehne) threw strikes and didn't walk very many guys," Nelson said. "They got ahold of a couple there in that one inning, but other than that, I don't think we had any errors, so the defense played well behind him. They gave them a chance to go the full seven."

Hoelscher, the only player on either side with multiple hits (2-for-3, two RBIs), drove in the final run in the sixth with a single. The Wildcats finished with nine hits as a team.

"We do have to be more consistent from inning 1-7," Wiss said. "I know we had a couple innings where we didn't get the ball out of the infield and that's not going to win too many games. A couple of the younger guys got some hits together in a couple innings, and that allowed us to get enough runs to where we felt comfortable keeping Peter out there. It was a good win."

The Wildcats, now 9-3 on the season, travel to Versailles for a 6:30 p.m. game on Thursday. New Bremen, now 1-6, hosts Coldwater today at 6:30 p.m.