Rain halts game, A’s get 2-0 win

Near perfect pitching by Ben Stanczyk and near perfect timing by Mother Nature combined to give the Sheboygan A’s a 2-0 win over the Kenosha Kings in a game that was ended after five innings by lightning and a pending thunderstorm.

Much to the chagrin of the A’s, umpires called the game in the third inning citing safety as lightning was in the area. While everybody else was watching the light show, A’s officials were watching much of the large Optimists, Zion Covenant Church and Sheboygan Bowling Association crowd leave.

Some 20 minutes later, with lightning still in the area, the game was resumed.

The A’s promptly scored a run in the bottom of the fourth when Drew Pearson walked, stole second and scored on Harry Steldt’s base hit. They added another in the fifth when Grant Evans led off with a double, moved to third on Matt Bromley’s sacrifice and scored on Sam Raff’s base hit.

The intensity of the lightning had now increased and the umpires stopped the game. The chagrin now shifted to Kenosha’s dugout as the Kings were pleading for another suspension. Nobody was listening and the game was declared over.

Both pitchers, Stanczyk for the A’s and Ryan Kennedy for Kenosha were terrific. Stanczyk limited the Kings to just two base hits. No royalty reached second base. Kennedy had a no-hitter going until Steldt’s RBI single in the fourth. The A’s managed a total of only four hits. Kennedy struck out six, Stanczyk five.

The A’s are now idle until Saturday night when they begin Langsdorf playoff action against the survivor of the 5 vs. 4 vs. 3 stepladder games.