West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

Pitching and defense continue to be the story. As this goes, so go the Nationals. In game one of a best-of-three playoff series against Racine, the Nationals played solid defense and got a gutty pitching performance from Jim Jungbauer in defeating the Kiwanis 4-2. Jungbauer stuggled with command over six innings of work, but managed to make big pitches in key situations. In the first, he struck out Kiwanis clean up hitter, Jason Herzog, with a runner in scoring position to end the inning. The third inning saw Jungbauer give up a lead off single to speedy centerfielder, Joe Wendt. When Wendt tried to swipe second, though, catcher Jared Stengel was quick to nail him at the bag. This proved to be a key play. After a Jungbauer strikeout for the second out of the inning, Kiwanis leadoff hitter, Brady Knudson homered. After giving up a walk to the following hitter and then a single, Jungbauer got a big strikeout of Herzog, again, to end the third. Jungbauer's biggest challenge came in the fifth. With two outs, he allowed a single and three walks, reducing the Nationals lead to 4-2 in the process. The next hitter worked Jungbauer 3-0, but Jungbauer did not give in. He threw 4 consecutive strikes, the last of which resulted in a fly out to right field. After a 1-2-3 sixth, his first of the game, Jungbauer gave way to Curt Pryal who saved the victory with a 1-2-3 seventh. Game two was a bit of a different story. Racine struck first in the third inning, thanks to some sloppy defense. After a leadoff single, Nationals starting pitcher, Corey Berndsen, induced a tailor made double play ball to second. Unfortunately, Nats shortstop, Mike Wajerski, had trouble with the glove to hand exchange and only one out was recorded. This proved costly. After Berndsen got Herzog to fly to left for the second out of the inning, the next 5 Kiwanis hitters reached base, 4 on singles. When the dust cleared, the Nats were down 4-0. The Nats responded in the bottom half of the inning, though. Mike Wajerski singled and later scored on a Johnny Arnold RBI single. Unfortunately the rally stalled prematurely. With the bases loaded in one out, Jim Riebe hit a flair to the shortstop and James Herkowski popped to second. Things got interesting in the fourth. Steve Schulte led off with a single and moved to second on a walk to Joe Riebe. With one out, Jesse Hart lined a double to left, scoring both runners and making the game 4-3. Things stayed this way until the seventh. Curt Pryal relieved Berndsen and struggled with his command, walking 3 of the first 5 hitters he faced and an RBI double to another. The damage could have been limited if not for more difficulty with a tailor made double play ball. This error allowed a second insurance run to score and put the Kiwanis comfortably ahead 6-3. A Jim Riebe double scored Johnny Arnold, who had also doubled, to make things interesting in the seventh. But it was not to be. Final score 6-4. The third and deciding game of the series is set for Tuesday night at Zirkel Field. First pitch is 7PM.