The Saline Reporter
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Hornets see streak end but go 3-1 on week
Rash of injuries strikes but Theisen confident team won't miss beat
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 8, 2008
For the first time in weeks, there was bad news on the diamond for the Saline baseball team.
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Their 11-game win streak came to an end in Game 1 of a Thursday doubleheader at Tecumseh in which starting third baseman Al Zeiher was lost to injury. The Hornets then gave up 11 runs in Game 1 of a Monday home doubleheader against Lincoln — the same game in which starting first baseman Jeff Baublit suffered a broken bone in his arm.
But there was some good news for the Hornets, too, as they survived that Game 1 against the Railsplitters 12-11 and rolled to wins in both Game 2's by a combined 23-1 score.
"I thought Thursday we played well in both games," Saline head coach Scott Theisen said after the Lincoln sweep. "We hit well, we pitched well.
"But I didn't think we were very mentally prepared today. Fortunately we had some good swings and scored some runs, but we did not play well. Hopefully that can be a lesson for us that will make us a better team."
Theisen was understandably frustrated by the rash of injuries — Andy Frey is now also on the shelf — but said the Hornets weren't about to feel sorry for themselves or make excuses.
"We told them they've got two choices," Theisen said. "They can either pack it in, or buckle down and do the things as a team we have to do to make this season something we'll still look back on and smile about ... That's life. Maybe we don't have someone who can play third or first base quite as well, but we can compensate for that by hustling a little more, concentrating a little more."
The Hornets jumped all over Lincoln in the first inning of Monday's Game 1, sending 12 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs. Two of those came from leadoff hitter Kory Gainey alone, with Brad Guenther, Baublit, Carter Beil, Vinnie Haynes and Jon Endicott all also crossing the plate in the inning.
The Hornets would total 11 hits in the game. Gainey would finish the day 2-2 with two walks and three runs scored while Guenther connected for a pair of triples.
The offensive explosion would send Saline into the sixth with a 12-5 lead, but Lincoln would chase starter (and eventual winner) Adam Clements in the sixth, score six seven-inning runs off relievers Alex Pazkowski and Jon Endicott — four of them coming off a grand slam — and put the tying run on second before Endicott forced a pop-up to end the game.
Lincoln took a 1-0 Game 2 lead with a first-inning run, but from there it was all Hornets.
Starter Greg Spiess struck out 10 in five innings and retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced in the complete game win. Vinnie Haynes doubled in Guenther to tie the game at 1 in the first before the floodgates opened in the second.
After David Fraser's sacrifice, Eric Braham singled in Josh Burd, Gainey doubled in Tim Finkbeiner, Braham and Finkbeiner scored on Clements's infield single, and Haynes would double in Clements for a 6-1 lead. Guenther's two-run blast to deep right in the bottom of the fourth stretched the lead to 8-1 before the Hornets would send nine more batters to the plate in the inning, scoring five runs and picking up a 13-1 mercy-rule win.
At Tecumseh, the homestanding Indians extended an early lead to 5-0 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Saline refused to go quietly, rallying for three in the bottom of the seventh when Baublit's three-run double scored Gainey, Guenther and Zeiher. But the Indians were able to shut the door with the tying run at the plate. Burd took his first loss of the season despite pitching the complete game.
"It was just a good ball game," Theisen said. "Both teams had nine hits and no errors. We just didn't get a big hit when we needed it. If you're playing good teams, you're not going to win them all."
Haynes picked up the win in Game 2 as Saline roared back for a 10-0 victory in five innings. The senior struck out seven and didn't walk a batter in recording the shutout.
Guenther and Baublit connected for back-to-back home runs in the first for a quick 2-0 lead, which Burd stretched the three in the fourth with an RBI double to drive in Beil. The Hornets would then explode for seven in the fifth, with Endicott, Beil, Burd, Braham, Gainey and Clements all scoring as Saline sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
Saline now stands at 15-4 overall and 11-1 in SEC play.
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