Loggers manage a sweep of the Mariners
Sweeping a doubleheader from a league rival is sweet for any coach, but what made the dual victories especially nice Monday for American Legion Loggers baseball coach Kelly Morford is the manner in which his nine battled back to retake the lead in the second game of their sweep of the Missouri Valley Mariners, 4-1 and 7-3.
“It was a close ballgame. To come back in the bottom of that (fifth) inning after they got three to go ahead was huge,” Morford said. “It was great in the way they responded.”
The Loggers trailed 3-1 after the Mariners crossed the plate thrice in the top of the fifth, but with one out, Will Reichel reached on an error by Mariners’ third baseman Austin VonTom, and stole second and then went to third on Alex Bluhm’s single. Bluhm then moved on to second.
Then the Loggers caught another break on a miscue — the Mariners’ second of the inning — on Jared Winslow’s ground ball to shortstop Justin Evertz that squirted through his legs into the outfield to score both Reichel and Bluhm that tied the game at 3-3.
Then with Winslow aboard, Chris Herbig doubles to push Winslow to third. And just when it seemed the Loggers had gotten all they would after Tate Wilson popped out to the shortstop, Alex Cislo took the fourth offering on a 2-1 count from the Mariners’ Dalton Molzhon and blooped a little Texas-Leaguer single behind second base. The blooper was effective, falling just out of reach of converging infielders to score both Winslow and Herbig to complete the four-run rally and put the Loggers back on top, 5-3, where they would stay.
“We had some timely hitting,” Morford said. “Herbig had a big double and then Cislo comes up and drops one right in behind second base to put us back on top.”
The Loggers’ timely hitting and improved pitching was crucial in both games, but Morford said he is just as excited about the improvement in his team’s defensive play.
“Our biggest thing is just that we seem to be throwing strikes, but we’ve also been playing some quality defense lately, and that’s been a big boost,” Morford said.
Morford specifically mentioned the development of Reichel and the leadership of Herbig, whom he called his team leader.
“Willie has developed hasn’t he?” Morford said rhetorically. “We put him there because we were short of infielders, but he’s taken over there at third to make it his own.”
And then he praised Herbig.
“We’re probably a little younger than last year, and we have a nice nucleus of veterans, but Chris has been the team leader. He’s played college ball,” Morford said.
The Loggers called upon that talent to post two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to pad their lead to 7-3 the eventual final score to secure the twinbill sweep.
The rally in the nightcap made a winner out of Bluhm, a newcomer to the club. Bluhm tossed 81 pitches, 45 of which were strikes. Bluhm struck out three and walked two. Tate Wilson and Justyn Mack pitched in relief of Bluhm, who led the team offensively with three hits.
Cislo had two hits with Herbig, Wilson, Micah Germany and Reichel also contributing to the parade of hits.
The Mariners’ Molzhon was tagged for the loss, yielding four walks while striking out just one.
In the first game — a 4-1 Loggers’ victory — both teams managed just four hits, but the Loggers maximized those opportunities.
The Loggers picked up three runs in the third with just two hits and the aid of a couple of errors.
Andrew Haggerty singled to lead off the inning, and Mack pushed him to second on a fielder’s choice that was botched by first baseman Josh Rustad. Then Reichel singles, scoring Haggerty and Mack advances to third.
With Bluhm at the plate, Mack scores on the putout of Bluhm for the second run of the inning.
The Loggers picked up their third run of the inning as Reichel advanced to second and then to third on a passed ball and then scores on a error by Mariners’ catcher Jack Humphreys for a 3-0 lead.
The Loggers picked up another run in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead, which completed their scoring.
The Mariners picked up their sole run in the sixth.
The light-hitting game took just an hour, 42 minutes to complete and made a winner out of Cislo, who struck out three and walked three.
The Mariners’ VonTom was credited with the loss. VonTom walked two and struck out one.
The sweep improved the Loggers to 17-12 overall and 7-0 in their conference.
Bluhm, Andrew Haggerty, Mack and Reichel picked up hits for the Loggers.
Humphreys, the Mariners’ receiver who had a tough night behind the plate, picked up half of the Mariners’ hits. The other two came from Kevin Hagadorn and Molzhon.
Game 1
Mariners 000 001 0 1 4 3
Loggers 003 100 x 4 4 2
Mariners: Humphreys 2-4; Rustad 0-3; Evertz 0-3, RBI; Young 0-2; VonTom 0-3; Hagadorn 1-2; McArthur 0-1; Pichler 0-2; Molzhon 1-3;
Losing pitcher: VonTom; 6IP; 4H; 4R; 3ER; 2BB; 1K.
Loggers: Bluhm 1-3, RBI; Winslow 0-2; Herbig 0-2; Germany 0-3; Cislo 0-3;Wicka 0-3; Andrew Haggerty 1-2; Mack 1-2, RBI; Reichel 1-2, RBI.
Winning pitcher: Cislo 7IP; 4H; 1R; 0ER; 3BB; 3K.
Game time: 1:42.
Game 2
Mariners 000 030 0 3 7 4
Loggers 001 042 x 7 9 1
Mariners: Humphreys 1-3; VonTom 1-3, 2RBI; Evertz 2-3, RBI; Young 1-4; Rustad 0-2; McArthur 0-3; Hagadorn 0-2; Pichler 1-3; Molzhon 1-3.
Losing pitcher: 5IP; 9H; 7R; 2ER; 4BB; 1K.
Loggers: Bluhm 3-4, 2 RBI; Winslow 0-3, 2RBI; Herbig 1-1; Wilson 1-3, RBI; Cislo 2-4, 2RBI; Germany 1-3; Wicka 0-2; Luke Haggerty 0-3; Reichel 1-3, RBI.
Game time: 2:04.