Final Inning Rally Propels Skippers to the Win in Season Opener
April 3, 2013-Patches of snow still graced nearby neighborhoods but the turf diamond of beautiful Veteran’s Field at Minnetonka High School was ready for ball as the 9A Cardinals took on the Skippers Wednesday evening. Both teams battled cold temps and wind to offer the crowd an exciting matchup in the shortened five inning game.
Catcher Noah Koss was solid behind the plate all five innings and called a great game. Starting pitcher Jake Dujmovic threw a no-hitter in his two innings on the mound. Three batters up and three down in the opening inning as 2B Zach Remund caught a fly out on batter one and Jake caught the next two batters looking on strikeouts. Inning two saw a walk, Daniel Mathews field a grounder at first, another walk, Tanner Tunsky with a F8 in CF, a third walk and then a sweet, full-count, bases loaded strikeout by Dujmovic to hold the Skippers scoreless.
Relief pitcher Danny Mathews continued the shut out through the third and fourth innings. Batter one in the 3rd was down on a 1-3 Danny to Aric Pask, batter two fell prey to a 4-3 Remund to Pask, next three batters took the base on balls, and then Mathews struck out batter six to once again rescue the Redbirds from a bases loaded situation. Mathews continued to work his magic in the 4th inning with a three pitch strikeout on batter one, a walk, an F2 by Koss, and a strikeout on batter four.
Cardinals weren’t able to get a crooked number on the board until the top of the 4th. Koss reached the base on balls, then stole 2B during Mathews at bat. Mathews laid down a terrific sac bunt to advance Koss to the three bag. Luke McNulty busted one out to deep LF, garnering himself a RBI triple as Koss crossed the plate. Nick Speltz was walked and Jake Hansen RBI’ed McNulty on a 6-4 to give the Cards a 2-0 lead.
Mathews took the mound again in the fifth. Unfortunately, just as it was looking like the Cards had knocked the wind out of those Skippers’ sails, Minnetonka, tired of being denied by a powerful Redbird defense, was able to string together some nice hits. Combined with a few walks, the Skippers put together three runs to claim the 3-2 win.
Hats off to Coon Rapids for toughing out the elements and giving the crowd a fun show. Next chance to catch the boys in action will be Tuesday, April 9th at 4:15pm on their home field as they take on the Elk River Elks.