Plenty of action
Tire Associates, LeMay¹s lose; Buss Sports, Lorentz Construction claim
victory

By Denny Weller

Special to The Free Press
NORTH MANKATO ‹ Budweiser of Prairie Star (Wis.) banged out 14 hits Thursday
night to overwhelm Tire Associates of Mankato 13-0 in five innings at the
2005 NAFA Class A World Series men's fastpitch tournament at Caswell Park.

While fellow Key City League member LeMay's of Lake Crystal dropped a 9-1
decision to Buist Electric of Michigan in another opening-round game,
Lorentz Construction of Mankato rode the four-hit pitching of Rob Schroeder
to a 1-0 win over Crow Bar of Sioux Falls, S.D.

Buss Sports of Vernon Center got three hits each from David DeWitz and Marly
Lloyd in a 10-0, five-inning victory over Ten North Main of Fargo, N.D. Buss
Sports was playing a late game against the St. Paul Brewers while the other
three teams all resume play today at 9:45 a.m.

Budweiser (21-20) took advantage of a pair of errors and two walks to score
six runs in the top of the first off Tire Associates' starter Todd Wachtel.
David Lay belted a double and single in the surge while Darron Nelson added
an RBI double.

"We got off to the bad start and it's pretty tough to come back from that,"
Tires Associate manager Dick Fehlandt said. "We played great ball two weeks
ago in finishing fourth at the state tournament, but tonight was one of
those nights where the wheels fell off."

JR Dachel's monstrous two-run homer over the center-field fence off Marly
Johnson helped Budweiser extend its lead to 9-0 after two innings. Dacehl
ended 3 for 3 with a walk and three runs scored. Lay finished 3 for 3 with a
triple and two runs scored while Jason Ellingson, Todd Lessman and Nelson
chipped in with two hits each.

Tire Associates (20-16) managed just two hits off Budweiser's Rick Larson
and Steve Johnson. Larson struck out six and walked two over the first three
innings. Johnson fanned four and hit two batters in two innings.

Devon Baumgartner's second-inning single and a third-inning base hit from
Cliff Pringle were the lone Mankato hits.

Lorentz Construction improved to 15-15 on the season as Schroeder's pitching
and Jason Anderson's RBI infield single fueled the 1-0 win over Crow Bar.
Schroeder struck out five and walked two while losing pitcher Jason Polreis
struck out eight and walked four in dropping a three-hitter.

"When you give the other team only three outs it makes things a lot easier,"
Schroeder said. "We just made the plays when we had to.

"I just tried to jam them inside and it seemed like we had good success with
that and with the drop ball. We were able to make that aggressive base
running move to scratch out that one run."

Lorentz's lone run came in the top of the fifth inning when Cody Voges and
Ryan Kramer walked. After Voges stole third base, Anderson came through with
an infield single to give Schroeder the only run he needed.

Schroeder had two hits for the winners. Dave Hennies led Crow Bar with a
pair of singles.

Jon Wroge belted a two-run homer and Doug Ziegler added a solo shot in Buss
Sports¹ 10-0 win over Ten North Main. Winning pitcher Jeff Hohenstein and
Mitch Riley added two hits each. Hohenstein struck out four and walked three
in winning a three-hitter.

Used with the permission from The Free Press, Mankato, Minnesota
(August 25, 2005).