By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
For most of the game last night at Athletic Park, Merrill had the advantage over the Steven Point Sixers, but come the seventh inning things took a bad turn. The Sixers tied Merrill in the seventh and then surged for six runs in the eighth that Merrill could not match. The final score was 8-4 with Merrill Post 46 generating eight hits and committing three errors.
After a scoreless first, Merrill got the ball rolling in the bottom of the second with Keenan Stellingworth batting in Drew Hoff with a sacrifice fly. At the bottom of the third, Tyler Belfiori popped a hard grounder to left, batting in Adam Messerschmidt.
The game had become a stalemate afterwards, with both teams’ defenses fielding quickly and effectively. The top of the seventh started out much the same until Point hit a home run, good for two runs. Merrill quickly shut down the frame after that, but they were unable to get any runs of their own, sending the game into the eighth inning.
Top of the eighth saw the bulk of the Sixers’ runs, coming from a sustained sequence of sacrifice flies, line drives and grounders. To compound things further, all three of Merrill’s errors occurred in this frame.
At the bottom of the eighth Merrill got two runs, both off Drew Hoff’s powerful home run line drive to left. In addition to himself, he batted in Ryan Golisch. The inning, and the game, ended soon after.
Top hitters for Post 46 include Golisch (2H, 1R), Belfiori (2H, 1RBI) and Hoff (1H, 2RBI, 2R, 2BB, 1SB, 1HR). Justin Pyan pitched, striking out three, walking five, allowing eight hits and eight runs-two earned. Fielding was lead by Trevor Asmundsen with five putouts and an assist. Other fielders include Jared Schmeltzer (4PO, 2A), Hoff (4PO), Dan Duginski (3PO, 2A), Belfiori (3PO), Messerschmidt (2PO) and Golisch (2PO).
With the 9-3 loss to Medford on June 8, 5-0 loss to Wausau United on June 9, 17-9 loss to Antigo on June 14 and this loss to Point, Post 46 currently sits at 0-4. The games originally scheduled against Mosinee and Everest were postponed due to inclement weather.
Post 46 will play their next game at Minocqua on Monday, June 27 at 7 p.m.
Loss to Antigo
Merrill Legion/Post 46 fell to Antigo on Tuesday at Athletic Park with a final score of 17-9, generating 11 hits and making 11 errors. Despite a successful third inning where Merrill got seven runs, it wasn’t enough to overcome Antigo’s consistent hitting.
With Antigo up to bat first, they got two runs right away in the first and two more in the second before Merrill answered with two runs in the bottom, both courtesy of Trevor Asmundsen and Adam Messerschmidt walking in.
Antigo tacked on four more runs in the top of the third but Merrill responded with seven runs on the bottom, starting with Keenan Stellingworth batting in Drew Hoff with a grounder to short. After Justin Pyan hit a powerful fly to right, Trey Seubert batted in Jared Schmeltzer with a grounder to left. After that, Dan Duginski batted in both Stellingworth and Pyan with a grounder to right.
Asmundsen then batted in Seubert with a popup to right field, and Ryan Golisch batted in Duginski and Asmundsen with a grounder to left to take the lead with nine runs total.
That lead would be short-lived, however, as Antigo would get two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth, one in the sixth and three more in the seventh while Merrill would be unable to score any more runs.
Top hitters for Post 46 include Seubert (3H, 1R, 1RBI), Golisch (2H, 2RBI, double), Duginski (1H, 1R, 2RBI), Stellingworth (2H, 2R, 1RBI) and Schmeltzer (1H, 2R). Golisch pitched the first three innings, striking out three, walking two, allowing six hits and eight runs-five earned. Nick Bowe pitched the next two innings, striking out none, walking four, allowing three hits and five runs-three earned. Seubert finished the game, striking out none, walking two, allowing two hits and four runs-one earned.
Top fielders include Duginski (5PO), Seubert (3PO, 1A), Asmundsen (3PO), Stellingworth (2PO), Schmeltzer (2PO), Hoff (2PO), Bowe (1PO, 1A) and Messerschmidt, Pyan, and Troy pike with a putout each.
Stats provided by GameChanger.
