West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The West Allis Nationals enjoyed home cooking Saturday - literally and figuratively - after a long period on the road.   Having completed road trips to Lombard, Illinois, Oshkosh, Sheboygan, and West Bend in the past 10 days the squad was back at familiar Harvey Kuenn Field in West Allis for a DH vs the Northern Illinois Legends.   Those in attendance were treated to wins by scores of 1-0 and 8-0.

Game was was a crisply played affair.   Offensive rallies were at a minimum so starting pitcher Jimmy Jungbauer maximized the one run he was provided in leading the team to victory.   Jungbauer allowed only three hits and struck out nine in the complete game shutout victory.   Jonah Meidl scored the game's only run, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Kalkopf after he had tripled to lead off the third inning.

Game two was equally tight until the Nationals offense woke up in the fifth inning.   When the dust cleared the Nationals had plated 7 runs on 8 hits to take a commanding 8-0 lead.  Brian Huntzinger, Matt Richer, Shey Smith, Nick Schmidlekofer, and Jake Kolasinski all had RBI knocks in the frame.

Chad Tindall pitched the first 5 innings for the victory, allowing only two hits while striking out four.  Sam Mahar, in his Nationals debut pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Next up for the Nationals is the Wisconsin Amateur Baseball Classic in West Bend.   The team has three games in their pool - Wednesday vs Rubicon, Thursday vs Monches, and Saturday against the Milwaukee Beavers.   Pool winners advance to the tournament semi-finals on Sunday. 

The West Allis Nationals travelled to West Bend Thursday evening with an opportunity to clinch not only the Langsdorf Nite League Championship but also first place in Wisconsin State League Northern Division.

The team did not disappoint.  Jumping early to a 5-0 lead, the team cruised to a 14-2 win over the host West Bend 7 Up.   The Nationals now stand at 9-2 in the Langsdorf Nite League and 10-3 in the Wisconsin State League's Northern Division.   With the victory, the team secured a berth in the Wisconsin State League best-of-three Championship Series July 24-27 against a to-be-determined Southern Division Champion.

After going down in order in the first inning, the Nationals strung together 5 straight knocks in the second to take a commanding 5-0 lead.   A six run fourth made the score 11-3 and the Nationals closed out their scoring with a three run fifth.

Contributions came from up and down the lineup.  6 starters contributed at least 2 hits.  Matt Richer led the offense with three RBI's.

Cody Griebling went the distance on the mound, allowing 6 hits in 7 innings while striking out 11.

Next up are the Northern Illinois Legends on Saturday in West Allis in a Wisconsin State League DH.  First pitch is set for 1pm.

The trend of high scoring affairs in Sheboygan continued, though the outcome this time was different.  The West Allis Nationals scored 4 in the ninth inning and held off a furious A's rally in the bottom half to prevail 9-8 in a critical Wisconsin State League Northern Division battle.    The victory secured the Nationals place atop the North Division with a 9-3 record; Sheboygan fell to 10-7.

Many contributed to the victory in both small and large ways.   Kyle Kalkopf, Nick Schmiddlekofer, and Max Widmar had 3 hits each.  Widmar also knocked in 3 runs and collected his first Nationals victory with 3 plus innings of strong relief.  Nick Lingvay had an important RBI knock in the sixth to keep the game tight; Shey Smith's RBI in ninth tied the game and Jake Kolasinski followed with an RBI to give the Nationals a 7-6 lead at the time.

Curt Pryal battled on the bump for the first 5 plus innings, creating the opportunity for the late game fireworks.

The Nationals are back at it Thursday night in another tough Wisconsin State League North Division battle against the West Bend 7 Up in West Bend.  First pitch is set for 7:30pm.

The Nationals had Oshkosh down to their final strike on multiple occasions Thursday night, but couldn't close the door.   A persistent Oshkosh team took advantage by scoring three in the ninth to tie the game and then ended it with a walk off homer in the tenth.

The loss leaves the Nationals atop the Wisconsin State League's North Division with an 8-3 record.   Oshkosh improves to 3-8.

Next up are the Sheboygan A's Tuesday night in Sheboygan.    A victory will move the Nationals very close to a North Division title and earn them a matchup in the Wisconsin State League Championship Series against the South Division Champion. 

The West Allis Nationals made their first-ever trip to Lombard, Illinois Saturday for a DH against the 10-time defending Wisconsin State League champion Orioles.

Game one was a tight affair, with each team flashing strong defense to stifle scoring opportunities.   The Nationals ultimately prevailed 2-1 in nine innings, scoring the winning run on Kyle Kalkopf's bases-loaded RBI walk.

Curt Pryal pitched the first 6 innings, allowing only a first inning run after appearing to be out of the inning on a pick off at first base.  Pryal allowed only 4 hits and struck out 6.   Andy Arenson came on in relief of Pryal, allowing no hits and striking out 6 over the final 3 innings to earn the victory.

The Nationals had several scoring opportunities in game two but couldn't produce the clutch hit en route to a 4-0 loss.   Curt Pryal and Shey Smith both hit ringing doubles to left but were left stranded in each inning; Nick Schmidlekofer led off another inning with a single and Jake Kolasinski reached on an error to put runners on first and second with no outs, but the bats weren't able to produce a tally.

Jimmy Jungbauer started on the bump before tiring in a long fourth inning and giving way to Bobby Herrick, who went the rest of the way.

Next up for the Nationals are off to meet the Oshkosh Giants in Oshkosh on Thursday in an important Wisconsin State League North Division affair.   First pitch is set for 7:30pm.