WORTHINGTON -- Tom Albrecht and Alex Meyer combined to allow just five hits and two walks Wednesday night, leading Okabena to a 6-1 victory over Worthington in a nine-inning, American Legion baseball game.
Albrecht pitched the first five innings and earned the win, striking out three batters and allowing no runs on one hit and one walk. Meyer worked the final four frames, scattering four hits and allowing just one walk and one run.
Okabena's defense was impressive throughout the game, making several nice plays -- including nifty turns of double plays to end both the second (6-4-3) and the third (4-6-3) innings. Shortstop Kirk McBreen and second baseman Octavio Jimenez, who were in on a combined 14 outs in the game, teamed up on both of the double plays, finishing with strong throws to first baseman Alex Olsem.
"Okabena played great," Worthington coach Todd Rogers said after the game. "Their pitchers threw strikes, and their defense made several nice plays. We only struck out three times and put the ball in play well, but they were sharp defensively."
Okabena (3-2) scored three runs early and three runs late, while Worthington (4-3) scored its only run in the bottom of the eighth. Cody Melendrez (7 1/3 innings, eight hits, five runs, four walks, four strikeouts) and Justin Larson (1 2/3 innings, one hit, one run, two walks, two strikeouts) pitched for Worthington.
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"Cody threw well for us, but we just couldn't get him any offensive support," Rogers said. "Cody kept us in it and gave us a chance, though, and that's all you can really ask for."
Okabena struck with a run in the top of the second, as Albrecht -- who faced the minimum nine batters through three innings and faced just two batters over the minimum (17) through five innings -- cracked a lead-off double. Courtesy-runner Sean Haberman advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a Worthington error to put Okabena up 1-0.
Okabena scored a pair of runs in the third, as Mike Stenzel (3-for-5) cracked a two-run single up the middle to plate McBreen (lead-off single) and Haberman to make it 3-0.
"We played a nice ballgame, as we were aggressive at the plate and on the bases," Okabena coach Kevin McBreen said. "We were able to advance on a couple of pitches in the dirt with good reads, plus we moved guys over with a couple of nice at-bats, including a great sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning."
Albrecht (2-for-3) and Stenzel cracked back-to-back singles to start the top of the eighth, and Luke Henkels dropped down a sacrifice bunt to give Okabena two runners in scoring position. Kyle Elder came through with a clutch RBI single to right field, scoring Albrecht to make it 4-0.
Stenzel then scored from third on a wild pitch that did not bounce very far from home plate, giving Okabena a 5-0 lead.
Worthington answered with a run in the bottom half to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Ethan Duffy belted a one-out double to the fence in right-center and scored on a two-out RBI single to left by Melendrez.
Okabena scored the game's final run in the ninth, with Jimenez drawing a lead-off walk and advancing to third on a pair of wild pitches. Jimenez scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Albrecht, giving Okabena a 6-1 lead.
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Steven Kremer singled to start the bottom of the ninth, but Meyer retired the next three Worthington hitters to secure the victory for Okabena.
"It was fun to watch our team play in this game," Kevin McBreen said. "Tom and Alex each did a great job on the mound, and our guys backed them up with some nice defense. That was good baseball all the way around by our guys."
Derek Stenzel cracked a pair of singles, and Garet Rogers walked twice for Okabena, which hosts Pipestone tonight.
Derek Busswitz (second inning) and Mitch Jensen (seventh inning) collected a single apiece for Worthington, which hosts Windom for a doubleheader tonight at 6 p.m.
R H E
Oka. 012 000 021 -- 6 9 1
Worth. 000 000 010 -- 1 5 3
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