West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

It took awhile, but the slumbering offense of the West Allis Nationals finally awoke Saturday afternoon as the Nats scored a 6-0 victory in game two of the day's DH.   Game one found the Nats on the short side of a 5-2 outcome.

Unlike Friday night, the Nationals were able to put runners on base in Saturday's first game versus the Redbirds.   Unfortunately, timely hitting was at a premium.   After Kyle Kalkopf scored the game's first run on a groundout by Jared Stengel, the team put runners on in every inning but failed to push them across.   Marinette had no such trouble, mixing in well placed bloops with liners to push 5 runs across against Nationals starter Curt Pryal.   

With the score 5-1 in the sixth, that futility finally ended.  Fourteen year old Alex Elliott came to the plate with two outs and runners on second and third and delivered his first career hit and RBI, a line single to left center field, scoring Kyle Knaust.

While that run proved to be too little too late, it did spark the team to a better performance in game two.   In a rain shortened affair the Nats tallied two runs in three of the first four frames to jump out to a 6-0 lead.   That proved to be more than enough as mother nature decided the High Life would start early.

Curt Pryal and CJ Herrforth led the way.   Pryal drove in 4 runs with a two run double and a two run single.   Herrforth, meanwhile, mowed down the Redbirds, allowing only one walk and one hit while striking out 2.

For the day, Kyle Kalkopf led the way, finishing with 3 hits, 2 walks, and an RBI.  Adam Karas added hits in each of the games.

The Nats now move into League Play, opening the regular season on Tuesday night against the rival West Allis White Sox at Zirkel Field.   First pitch is set for 7:30pm.