WORTHINGTON -- Mitchell Jensen cracked an RBI-single to right field in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday night, scoring Adam Munkel with the winning run in Worthington's 2-1 walk-off victory over Adrian in an exciting opening game of a VFW baseball doubleheader.
Worthington then pounded out 15 hits to win the nightcap 13-1 in five innings, improving its overall record to 23-6-1. Adrian is now 4-9.
Thursday's first game featured quality pitching from both teams, as Munkel (complete game, seven strikeouts, one walk, three hits, no earned runs) and Adrian's Luke Tiesler (complete game, five strikeouts, one walk, seven hits, one earned run) threw strikes and kept the opposing hitters off-balance.
"Those were two good pitchers going at it in the first game," Adrian head coach Kevin Nowotny said afterwards. "Neither team could get much going offensively, with both pitchers keeping the ball in the strike zone and letting their defenses make plays behind them."
Worthington had just two hits through the first five innings before coming up with five hits in the final two frames -- scoring one run in each to claim the come-from-behind victory.
ADVERTISEMENT
Adrian had the game's first real scoring chance in the top of the third, as Tiesler singled to right with one out, and after a strikeout for the second out, Tyler Sieve laced a two-out double to deep left-center.
Center fielder Cody Melendrez tracked the ball down and relayed it in to shortstop Kirk McBreen, who positioned himself to catch and throw in a hurry -- firing a one-hop strike to catcher Steven Kramer to cut down the courtesy runner (for Tiesler) at the plate.
Adrian, though, scored in the fourth to go up 1-0. Andrew Lonneman led off and reached on a dropped fly ball before Tyler Hornstein bounced into a fielder's choice.
Justin Wolf then reached on another dropped fly ball in the outfield, putting Hornstein at second with one out.
Mitchell DeBoer then bounced into a fielder's choice, leaving runners at the corners with two outs for Nick McCann -- who delivered an RBI-single to left to plate Hornstein and give Adrian the lead.
Meanwhile, Tiesler was keeping Worthington off of the bases. Octavio Jimenez and McBreen had a single in the second and fourth innings, respectively, but a sliding catch by Mitchell Voss in center field (in the second) and a nice pick-off move by Tiesler (in the fourth) helped Adrian escape any potential danger.
On the other side, the third and fourth innings were the only ones where Adrian threatened. Munkel retired the first seven batters he faced, set Adrian down in order in four separate innings and didn't allow a walk until there were two outs in the seventh inning. He threw 64 of his 90 pitches for strikes and only went to a three-ball count twice (in 26 plate appearances).
"Our guys threw well tonight, as both Adam and Derek Lee (second game) threw the ball over the plate and relied on our defense for support," Worthington head coach Ryan Weber said. "We made most of the plays, but the ones we didn't ended up costing us in the fourth. We were able to come back, though, and get some key hits at the end."
ADVERTISEMENT
Lee, the designated hitter in the first game, opened the bottom of the sixth inning with an infield single up the third-base line. After a sacrifice bunt from Jensen, Justin Larson reached on an error to give Worthington runners at the corners and one out.
Tiesler then got a big out by fanning McBreen, but Kramer lofted an RBI-single to shallow left field to score Lee and tie the game at one.
After Munkel worked around his lone free pass of the night in the top of the seventh, he started Worthington's half with a one-out single to left.
Stuart Rogers followed with a sharp single to right, sending Munkel to third. Tiesler then fanned Lee for the second out, bringing Jensen to the plate.
Jensen slapped a first-pitch fastball into right field, scoring Munkel with the winning run.
"That was an exciting ballgame," Nowotny said. "We played well enough to win, but Worthington is a good team and has some nice ballplayers."
Worthington 13, Adrian 1
Worthington carried its hot hitting over into the second game, as the host team ripped 11 hits and scored 11 runs in the first three innings on its way to completing the sweep.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We hit the ball a lot better in the second game," Weber said. "We saw some pitches and were aggressive, both at the plate and on the bases."
Lee tossed a complete game for Worthington, striking out four batters, walking none and allowing just one hit and one unearned run.
Hornstein, Wolf and Dru Strand each saw time on the mound for Adrian.
Worthington strung together four consecutive singles in the top of the first, as Tyler Stugelmeyer (3-for-4, three runs, two RBIs), McBreen (3-for-4, two runs, two RBIs), Kramer (1-for-3, two runs, two RBIs) and Jimenez (2-for-3, two RBIs, run) each singled with one out to begin the four-run frame.
Kramer's single scored Stugelmeyer, and McBreen scored on a wild pitch before Munkel cracked a two-out, two-run triple to score Kramer and Jimenez.
Stugelmeyer's RBI-double and McBreen's run-scoring single gave Worthington two more runs in the second.
Adrian scored a run in the bottom of the second, as DeBoer reached on a fielder's choice after Wolf reached on a dropped fly ball. A throwing error and a passed ball allowed DeBoer to go to third, where McCann scored him with a sacrifice fly to center.
Worthington tacked on five more runs in the third, with Jimenez providing a two-run triple to right-center to plate Stugelmeyer and McBreen, who both had an RBI-single earlier in the inning. Kramer drove in the other run with a sacrifice fly.
ADVERTISEMENT
Worthington added two more runs in the fifth, as Melendrez (double) and Rogers (single) each produced a run with a base-hit.
Tiesler had Adrian's only hit with a third-inning single.
Worthington hosts a doubleheader with Sioux Falls West Tuesday, beginning at 6 p.m. Adrian hosts Luverne Monday.
R H E
Adr. 000 100 0 -- 1 3 1
Wor. 000 001 1 -- 2 7 2
R H E
Wor. 425 02 -- 13 15 2
ADVERTISEMENT
Adr. 010 00 -- 1 1 4
