West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The Nats opened league play on Tuesday night against the West Allis White Sox at Zirkel Field in West Allis.  

The familiar surroundings were welcome after two road trips to open the season.  The offensive struggles, though, continued until an four-run eighth inning rally carried the squad to a 6-4 victory.

The Nationals (1-0, 3-2) were largely held down by Sox (0-1, 0-1) starter Matt Schader for the first six innings of play, limited to one hit and four walks.  Despite this the game remained tight as Nationals starter, Alex Kingsley, was equally stingy through 4 innings of work.

The Sox broke the scoreless duel in the fifth with a single tally, but the Nats responded in kind on Adam Karas sacrifice fly to score Jimmy Jungbauer.

The Sox rallied again in the sixth, scoring twice before Kingsley gave way to Kyle Knaust, who extinguished the rally by striking out three successive Sox with a runner in scoring position.

The Sox added a run in the 7th to expand their lead to 4-1 but the Nats answered with an RBI double from Jared Stengel that scored Kyle Kalkopf.

The game was won in the eighth.   After a leadoff walk to Dean Mlachnik, Erik Martwick doubled to put runners on second and third with none out.  A walk to Jimmy Jungbauer loaded the bases and Austin James followed with a groundout that brought the Nats to within a run.  Kyle Knaust then singled home Martwick to tie the game.    After a Sox pitching change, the rally continued.   James and Knaust both scored from third on successive wild pitches and the Nats assumed control at 6-4.

Knaust took the mound again in the ninth and worked around an error to made quick work of the Sox and lock down the victory.

Next up are the Genoa City RedDogs on Saturday.   The Nats will travel to Genoa City for a twinbill beginning at 1pm.