May 10, 2008

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Saturday, May 10, 2008) The Redhawks baseball team split a crucial Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader against the team that trails them in the OVC standings at Capaha Field Saturday afternoon. Behind strong pitching and clutch hitting the Redhawks took game one 5-4 in 10 innings before falling 3-1 in game two.

Game one had all the makings of a pitching dual and that's exactly what the fans and the half a dozen major league baseball scouts in attendance got for six innings as Colonels (23-25-1, 10-13 OVC) potential first-round draft pick Christian Friedrich and Redhawks (20-21, 10-11 OVC) starter James Leigh (Bryant, AR/Texarkana CC) kept the offense to a minimum. Leigh had his best outing in over a month allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits over six innings. He struckout four while throwing a season-high 116 pitches.

Unfortunately Friedrich was in a zone as he no-hit the Redhawks through the first 4.2 innings and pitched eight shutout innings of one-hit ball. His only hiccup on the day was an infield single by Zachary Blemker (Vincennes, IN/Vincennes CC) in the fifth inning. He struckout 13 Redhawks before being pulled at the beginning of the ninth.

Colonel Head Coach Elvis Dominguez in retrospect probably regretted that decision as the Redhawks scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth off of reliever Jim Clancy to send the game into extra-innings.

Tyrell Cummings (Muskogee, OK/Seminole State CC) led-off with an opposite field single to right. Matt Wagner (Wahoo, NE/Nebraska) collected a one-out single to move Cummings to second. Jim Klocke (St. Louis, MO/St. John Vianney) followed with a single to left field for the Redhawks first run of the game. Matt Wulfers (Cape Girardeau, MO/Missouri) delivered a pinch-hit single to plate Wagner and Klocke to cut the deficit to one run. Blemker collected his second hit of the game to move Wulfers to second and moved to third on a Blake Slattery (Cape Girardeau, MO/Cape Central) fly ball to deep rightfield for the second out. Tony Spencer (Hillsboro, MO/Mineral Area CC) then collected the clutch hit to drive in Wulfers to tie the game.

In the bottom of the tenth Nick Harris (Alabaster, AL/Thompson) hit a one-out walk-off homerun over the centerfield fence off of Chris Hord (0-4) giving the Redhawks their fifth walk-off win of the season. For Harris it was the second time this season he won a game at the plate, earlier this season he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the final inning to beat Murray State.

The homerun made a winner of reliever Todd Strahlendorf (4-2) who pitched out a jam in the top of the tenth as the Colonels stranded two runners in scoring position.

The Colonels banged out 10 hits off of four Redhawk pitchers but saw 10 runners stranded as well. Offensively Matt Davis led them with a perfect 3-3 game with a single, a double and a two-run homerun. He also added his 14th stolen base of the season.

The Redhawks finished with eight hits with seven of those hits coming off Clancy and Hord.

In game two the Colonels hit Redhawks starter Dustin Renfrow (West Plains, MO/Jefferson CC) early as Tyler Rehmel hit a two-run homerun in the opening inning to give the Colonels a quick 2-0 advantage. Rehmel would strike again in the third inning as he singled in Aaron Barrows to increase their lead to 3-0.

Colonels starter McKenzie Willoughby cruised through the Redhawks lineup limiting them to only four hits and not surrounding a run until Klocke hit a solo homerun with one out in the seventh and final inning. Willoughby (2-3) recorded the complete game victory as he struckout four and walked only one.

Renfrow (4-5) settled down after the rough start allowing only one hit after the third inning. He recorded his team-high third complete game of the season allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out three while not walking a single batter.

Wagner's homerun extended his hitting streak to seven games. Klocke went 1-3 and extended his hitting streak to five games.

Jayson Langfels went 2-3 with a double and a triple for the Colonels. Rehmel finished 2-3 with three RBIs.

The Redhawks remain one game ahead of the Colonels for the sixth and final spot for the OVC Tournament. The teams will meet tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for the deciding game of the series.