West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The Nats quickly erased memories of a tough loss Tuesday with a hard fought 9-7 victory over the Kenosha Kings Thursday at Zirkel Field.

After the Kings notched a single tally in the top of the first, Brandon Hall belted his 3rd homer of the year to give the locals a 2-1 lead.

When Kenosha added two more in the third, the Nationals again were able to respond.    After a single by Jared Stengal and a double by Hall, Curt Pryal hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.   Eric Martwick added a RBI single with two outs.

After a single tally in the fourth, the Nats added two more in the fifth on an RBI double by Danny Putnam and an RBI single by Hall.

The Nats extended the lead to 9-4 with two more in the seventh.  Jared Stengal hit a sacrifice fly to score Kyle Kalkopf and Brandon Hall had and RBI groundout to score Putnam.

CJ Herrforth picked up the win going 7 strong innings, striking out 7 and walking 2.   Newbie Geraldo Matos threw one strong inning then before running into trouble in the ninth.   Jimmy Jungbauer came on to get the final two outs to get his second save of the year.

The same two teams square off again on Tuesday night at Zirkel Field.  First pitch is set for 7:30pm.

After rallying to tie the game at 5 in the ninth, the Nats failed to hold down the Angels and fell by a score of 6-5 on Tuesday night at Zirkel Field.

Erik Martwick's two out, two run single tied the game in the ninth and momentum was on the Nationals' side.     Mike Kenseth followed with a hump back liner to second, though, and the game remained knotted.

In the bottom half of the ninth the Angels rallied.   Nick Rechlitz reached first on an error by Kenseth to lead off the inning.   Nationals reliever Danny Putnam then hit the next batter to put runners on first and second with no one out.  With the outfield playing in, the Angels Brian Mulcahy smoked a liner to rightfielder Jared Stengel for the first out.    Unfortunately, Angels clean up hitter Paul Archambault followed with a line single to center to end the game.

Mitch Lochen went seven strong innings in his first Nationals start, allowing no walks and nine hits while striking out 5.   Brandon Hall, Danny Putnam, Jared Stengel, Mike Kenseth, and Matt Soderlund led the offense with two hits a piece.

Next up for the Nationals are the Kenosha Kings.   The two teams will square off at Zirkel Field on Thursday night at 7:30pm.