BASEBALL: Alma Falls in Marathon to Tri-State, 4-3 in 13 Innings
ALMA, Mich. – Alma baseball lost to Tri-State in the first game 4-3 and 4-3 in a 13-inning second game.In game one, Joe Thiry took the loss on the mound, threw seven innings, scattering nine hits and allowing four runs, just two earned, striking out six to fall to 0-5 on the season. The Scots had three runs and three hits with five errors while Tri-State had four runs on nine hits with one error.
Alma fell to an 0-4 deficit through five innings, but came back to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Down four runs entering the final innings, Alma led off with a walk to Mike Slesinski (Milford). Mike McAlpin (Mt. Pleasant) got the first out when he went down swinging, followed by a Josh Reece (Muskegon/Norton Shores) single to center field and moved Slesinski to second. Jeremy Stephens (Maple Rapids/Fulton-Middleton) loaded the bases when he was hit by pitch. Tri-State made a pitching change, bringing in Nichter who proved to be cold. A wild pitch moved the runners along, scoring Slesinski on a walk to Morales. Another wild pitch put Stephens on third and scored Reece before Luke Grover (Vestaburg) came in to DH before another wild pitch allowed Stephens to score before Grover went down looking for the Scots second out. A Bobby Jock (Memphis) ground out to the pitcher ended the game 4-3 in favor of the Thunder.
In game two, Tri-State scored one run in the top of the second and two more in the top of the fifth before Alma scored two in the bottom of the sixth. A single into center from Jock put a runner aboard and he moved to second on the stolen base and to third on a passed ball, scoring on a McAlpin double into left field. McAlpin stole second and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Slesinski for the second out. After a Stephens single, Morales ground out to the pitcher.
In the bottom of the seventh, Drew Tarkington (Alpena) took base on an error by the shortstop and Luke Grover came in to run, taking second on a wild pitch. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ray Foley (New Hudson/South Lyon) and scored on a Dan Merian (Milford) ground out to shortstop. With walks issued to Bobby Jock, Josh Reece and Mike McAlpin, the bases were loaded.
With an opportunity to be the hero, Slesinski stepped in with two outs and with Jock, Reece and McAlpin on base. Tri-State brought in Thomas to pitch cold from the dugout. With a two-and-two count, Slesinski struck out looking with the bases loaded. The game headed to extra innings.
Tri-State went three-up, three-down to end the top of the eighth before Alma did the same to move on to the ninth inning. Tri-State did the same again in the top of the ninth but in the bottom of the inning, Alma led off with a walk to Ray Foley, followed by a two-strike sacrifice bunt to move Foley to second. A ground out by Jock advanced Foley to third base as Reece stepped in. With an 0-2 count, Reece flied out to center to go to the 10th inning.
Nothing came until the 13th inning when a leadoff single by Berman turned into the go-ahead run on a Kurtz RBI single. The bottom of the inning saw the Scots leave a runner on base, but could not generate any more offense.
The Scots fall to 3-13 on the season and 2-8 in MIAA play and now look ahead to Thursday when they are slated to travel to Olivet.
Posted: Tue, April 10th, 2007 at 8:32PM
