West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

It was a 1-2-3 first inning for the Nats bats Monday night at Simmons Field in Milwaukee.  Kings starting pitcher, Randy Johnson, was sharp and the game had the makings of another tight pitchers' duel.

That changed quickly.  The Nats sent 14 men to the plate in the second inning, scoring 9 runs on 7 hits and blew the game wide open.  Singles by Tom Donovan and Jared Stengel preceded a walk to Johnny Arnold to bring Phil Gnacinski to the plate.  Phil hit a slow bouncer on the concrete infield, eluding the backhand of the Kings' third baseman and scoring two runs.  Johnson sandwiched in a couple of outs around walks to Franson and Hart and a hit by Joe Riebe, but the Nationals were far from finished.  Tom Donovan produced his second hit in the inning, a two out, two-run single.  Not to be outdone, Stengel followed with an RBI single followed by Johnny Arnold's two run double.

Kenosha did not go away quietly, tallying a run or runs in each of the game's first four innings, but the Nationals refused to yield the cushion.  A 5 run fourth inning pushed the lead to 16-6.  Key blows were delivered by Johnny Arnold with an RBI double and newcomer James Riebe with a two run triple.

Nationals starting pitcher, Corey Berndesen, settled in at this point.  Shaking some rust, Berndsen held the Kings to one run over his final three innings of work before yielding to Curt Pryal who pitched the final two.

Seven Nationals collected two or more hits in the contest, led by Phil Gnacinski with three.

Next up is another divisional foe, and local rival, West Allis White Sox.  The two teams square off on Tuesday night July 12 at Zirkel Field.  First pitch is set for 7PM.