West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The Nats came into saturday knowing that their window of opportunity to reach the playoffs is fast closing. With that said, the task was to take on the 1st place Kenosha Kings in a double header. Game 1 put Scott Evasovich (Carthage) vs. Tim Spata. The Nats put up a 6 spot in the 2nd inning with a lot of small ball. 4 consecutive bunts lead to 4 runs, and a 2-run, 2-out single by DH Jim Jungbauer concluded the attack for the inning. The Nats added 2 more runs over the rest of the game making the score 8-3 going into the bottom of the 7th. A 3-run HR by Dave Hermes cut the lead to 8-6, but that was all the Kings had, possibly because they saved their comeback for Game 2. Game 2 started very ominous for the Nats and Jim Jungbauer, who took the hill vs. Kyle Obenauf (Valparaiso). The Nats spotted the Kings a 5 spot in the 1st with spotty defense and pitching. The Kings added 1 in the 2nd to make it 6-0. Then came the 4th inning, where Obenauf who had it on cruise, started to falter with his control. Suddenly he couldn't find the plate and the Nationals mounted a rally, scoring 5 times in that frame. In the 5th inning West Allis tied it with 2 outs on a bloop single by 1B Tom Donovan. The 6th inning the Nats exploded for 6 runs, sparked by a 2 run single by 2B Andy Gerharz. With a comfortable lead at 12-6, the Nats took the field for the 7th inning, hoping to complete the sweep. Jungbauer, who threw over 200 pitches for the game got the first 2 outs without event. Then as you would say, the flood gates opened. The Kings put baserunners on and got a 3-run triple, spiced in another run to make the score 12-10. With men on 1st and 2nd, John Lequia (Bradley) came up and shot a 2-run double down the left field line to tie the game! RHP Phil Gnasinski replaced Jungbauer and got out of the inning. In the bottom of the 7th the Nationals were retired in order, and in extra innings the Kings put up 1 run to make the score 13-12. West Allis could not score the tying run in the bottom half of the 8th, making this a remarkable comeback victory for the Kenosha Kings, and a crushing loss for the Nationals. Next up: West Allis Whitesox on Tuesday