West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

In a season where the Nationals were in serious danger of not making the playoffs, they have somehow found a way into the Langsdorf Finals for the third time in the past 4 years. Racine Kiwanis, who finished in 1st place in the regular season came into the game with RHP Kevin Sowinski on the hill. The Nats matched with RHP Phil Gnasinski. The Nats had a scoring chance in the 1st, but weren't able to capitalize. In the bottom of the 1st it looked like Racine had come to hit as they pounded out 3 hits pushed across 2 runs, but even their outs were scorched. The Nats had a scoring chance in the 1st, but weren't able to capitalize. In the top of the 3rd West Allis decided to bust out the whoopin sticks, as they sent 9 batters to the plate and scored 5 runs. CF Adam Karas lead off with a single and he moved up on a base hit by SS Andy Gerharz (UWM). 1B Tom Donovan laid down a well placed sacrafice bunt, in which Sowinski had no play but to 1st and threw the ball away, allowing a run to score. Then DH Johnny Arnold pulled a single through the right side, scoring Gerharz and tying the game at 2-2. 3B Jeff Donovan (UW-Whitewater) ripped a double down the left field line, scoring his older brother and moving Arnold to third. LF Alex Franson singled in a run to make it a 4-2 game. Finally RF Jim Jungbauer grounded out to 2nd base and drove in the younger Donovan. With a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd, 3B Ryan Gilboy (Austin Peay) doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a single up the middle by DH Dan Bucholz (UWM). The Nats countered with 2 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th to make it 10-3 game. From the 6th to the 8th the Nats sticks went into the coolers as they played with the 7 run lead. In the 7th Racine added a run, followed by 3 runs in the 8th, pulling to within 3 runs at 10-7. In the top of the 9th West Allis punched their ticket to the finals with a crooked 8 spot. The Nats almost batted around twice in the inning and, this finished off the Kiwanis, who scored 1 run in the bottom of the 9th off reliever Tim Spata. Final Score 18-8. Box Score: West Allis Nationals 18-20-0 AB-R-H-BI CF Adam Karas 5-3-4-0 CF Jim Reibe 0-0-0-0 SS Andy Gerharz 5-3-3-2 1B Tom Donovan 5-2-3-4 DH Johnny Arnold 5-2-2-2 3B Jeff Donovan 7-1-2-3 LF Alex Franson 6-1-2-2 LF Kellen Haynes 0-0-0-0 RF Jim Jungbauer 7-1-1-1 C Jared Stengal 5-2-2-2 2B Mike Kenseth 3-2-1-1 WP: Phil Gnasinski Racine Kiwanis 8-19-4 AB-R-H-BI SS Kyle Silver 6-2-5-2 2B Eric Lehner 6-1-1-0 3B Ryan Gilboy 5-3-4-0 C Ryan Schmidt 4-0-1-1 DH Dan Bucholz 2-0-1-2 DH #10 1-0-0-0 CF Brady Knudsen 5-0-1-1 RF Tyler Lunde 3-0-2-1 RF #14 2-0-1-0 1B Wes Fergus 5-0-1-1 LF Dan Weitzel 4-2-2-0 LP: Kevin Sowinski