A’s Sweep Kings, Playoffs next
Posted: July 31, 2011
The Sheboygan A’s ran their late season winning streak to 11 with a doubleheader sweep of the Kenosha Kings Saturday afternoon at Wildwood Baseball Park.
The wins were by 2-1 and 5-4 scores. The A’s continued their heart-stopping string by winning the first one in extra innings and staving off a last inning Kenosha rally to hang on for the second win.
The weekend results leave the A’s at 29-15 for the regular season, 14-10 in the Wisconsin State League and 12-8 in the Northeastern Wisconsin League. The best they can do in the WSL is a third place tie, but that would require Kenosha to beat Manitowoc in Sunday’s (July 31) doubleheader. They can finish second in the Northeastern, but Menasha would have to lose two of its final three games.
The first of Mark Cibrario’s three hits in the game came in the second inning and was followed by John Hasser and Andrew Highland singles to produce KenoshA’s first run. Ryan Solberg’s solo home run the fourth tied the game at one.
The A’s had a chance to tie the game in the seventh when they had runners on second and third with one out via walks and a sacrifice, but a double play ended the threat.
They had another chance in the bottom of the ninth and were successful this time. Greg Rhude and Tim Patzman opened the inning with walks. After a strikeout, Phil Kramsky was intentionally walked to load the bases. Here skipper Shaun Wegner called for a suicide and as Rhude charged the plate Harry Steldt got the bunt down to get the winning run home.
The A’s managed only two hits in the game, but “squeezed” out the victory. Collin Weyer went the distance for the win and between clutch pitching and good defense got out of one jam after another.
The A’s erupted for five runs in the third inning of the second game. Rhude opened the inning with a hit and then Patzman and Solberg walked to load the bases. Kramsky delivered a sacrifice fly and then Steldt slammed a 3-run home run and Justin Hunt followed that with another home and the A’s had their big lead.
Kenosha got one back in the fifth, but had other chances stopped by double plays until they put forth a real threat in the top of the seventh. An error started it, and after two doubles and a couple walks the Kings had the score at 5-4 with the tying run on second before winner Eric Van Beck ended the threat with a strikeout.
The A’s will play Menasha in game one of the Northeastern Wisconsin League’s playoff on Friday, but the site of the game will be determined early in the week as Menasha plays out its schedule.
Photo by the Sheboygan Press
The Sheboygan A's are members of the Wisconsin State League and Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League. The A's have helped develop more than 43 players that have reached professional baseball, including 2002 World Series Champion Jarrod Washburn (Anaheim Angels). All Sheboygan A's home games are played at Wildwood Baseball Park in Sheboygan. Connect with the A's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
