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

The defending Langsdorf champion West Allis Nationals fought an up-hill battle all year. After making it into the playoffs, their first opponent was the 1st place Racine Kiwanis. Game 1 was a re-match of the near bench clearing brawl, with LHP Mike Jacobson (UW-Whitewater) and RHP Jim Jungbauer. The Nationals got on the board with 2 in the 1st inning. CF Adam Karas reached on an error and made it to 2nd on the overthrow. SS Andy Gerharz (UWM) reached base which brought up 1B Tom Donovan, who popped an infield fly pop up that reached the grass in right and was dropped. Karas advanced to 3rd and Gerharz moved up on the throw. DH James Herkowski drove in a run on a groundout and RF Jeff Donovan beat out an infield single to make score the 2nd run. Jungbauer held the lead until the 5th, when the Kiwanis tied the game at 2. In the top of the 7th the Nats pushed across 2 more runs on an amazing at-bat by veteran LF Alex Franson, in which the end result was a hard hit grounder to third base. 3B Ryan Gilboy (Austin Peay) initially booted the ball allowing Tom Donovan to score. With 2 outs and a runner on 2nd C Jared Stengal ripped a double to score the runner. With the game at 4-2, Jungbauer retired the Kiwanis in the 7th after allowing 1 base runner. The Nats are now 1 victory away from reaching the Langsdorf Championship. Game 2 was a well played game. Both teams got great starting pitching and their teams defenses backed them up. Racine Kiwanis starter Riley Weidner is their bona-fide ace and he acted like it, scattering 5 hits over 7 innings and not allowing the Nats to tally. RHP Tim Spata matched Weidner with 5 scoreless innings and he gave way to RHP Jeff Donovan, who threw a scoreless 6th. The Nats just never could get anything going against Weidner, who towards the end of the game relied heavily on his slider to get outs. In the top of the 7th, Racine came out and got a lead-off double by 2B Eric Lehrner. 3B Ryan Gilboy then was fanned on some high heat. DH Ryan Schmidt was intentionally walked to bring up C Dan Bucholz. Bucholz doubled down the left field line, scoring 2 runs and making it a 2-0 game. Donovan was able to get out of the inning without any further damage. In the bottom of the 7th, the Nats were able to put a few runners on base, but the rally was defused when LF Alex Franson hit into a 6-4-3 double play. With a man on 3rd and 2 outs, then Weidner got the final batter out to complete the shutout. All and all it was a good day of ball, but Game 3 will be on Tuesday at Zirkel Field. 1 Game- 9 innings for the right to play the West Allis White Sox, who defeated the Kenosha Kings 2 games on Saturday.

The Nats came out victorious in their final regular season game vs. the McGuires Cat's on Tuesday at Zirkel Field. The Nationals got offense from everyone on the team, but were lead by Jeff Donovan (UW-Whitewater) bat and arm. Donovan had 4 hits and 4 rbi's to go with the win on the hill. Birthday boy Jim Jungbauer matched Donovan's 4 rbi and the team got out of there in 6 innings by the mercy rule 17-1. The game meant nothing on the schedule and now the team has to be ready to play a game with some meaning on Saturday. The Racine Kiwanis and the West Allis Nationals... stay tuned...

In a total team effort the West Allis Nationals defeated the Milwaukee Mets by the 10-run rule both games of a double header on saturday at Zirkel Field. The biggest news of the day is that the Nats will get a chance to defend their 2005 title in the playoffs, which start next weekend. The winning pitchers were Phil Gnasinski and Tim Spata for the good guys. As it stands now, the Nats will take on the Racine Kiwanis in the first round. The other bracket is between the Kenosha Kings and the West Allis White Sox. The Nationals owe it to their persistence and a lot to the Milwaukee Angels, who lost their last 4 games. Luckily the Nats held the tiebreaker over the Angels, defeating them 2 out of 3 games this year. The regular season will conclude on tuesday, when the Nats take on the Cats, who are not to be taken lightly.

The third meeting between the West Allis cross-town rivals turned out to be a pitchers duel. RHP Brian Long (Carthage) took the mound for the White Sox and RHP Phil Gnasinski took the ball for the Nationals. After playing 6 1/2 innings of scoreless baseball the Nationals finally broke through. 1B Tom Donovan led off with a base hit to right center. He was moved to third on a double by LF Alex Franson. After a strikeout to the next batter, RF Jim Jungbauer came up and drove in Donovan with a 2 hopper to first base. After a walk to the next batter, 2B Mike Kenseth (UW-Whitewater) came up with a big opposite field single to right center, bringing in the second run of the game. With the score 2-0, the White Sox came up in the 8th and put 1 run across the board. The Nats couldn't score in the 8th, so it brought up the White Sox in the top of the 9th against Alex Franson, who relieved Gnasinski. The leadoff man got on with a base hit to right. That brought up CF Johnny Meier, who laid down a sacrafice bunt. Donovan picked up the ball and made a decent throw, but Kenseth couldn't handle the throw and the ball got away, leading to runners on 2nd and 3rd, with no outs. The next batter walked, bringing up C Matt Lenski with the bases loaded. He hit a 2 hopper back to Franson on the mound, who threw to C Jared Stengal for the first out, Stengal then fired a throw to first, in which Donovan couldn't handle. The throw was there, it was just dropped, making it a bases loaded, 1 out situation. Cleanup hitter 3B Matt Schrader struck out swinging, to bring a bases loaded, 2 out situation for SS Mike Olszewski. Olszewski, who was 4 for 4 at that point, ripped a 2-run single into left center, taking the lead 3-2. The Nats left the door open and the Sox busted it down. The Sox put RHP Jeff Livek (Carthage) out there for the save opportunity, and he went on to retire the Nationals in order in the bottom of the 9th. Yet another tough loss for the Nationals, who continue to find ways to lose. Next up: DH vs. Milwaukee Mets on Saturday