Jon Jallo bats for the Morris Eagles during the June 29 home win over Benson. (B.W. photo)The Morris Eagles town team put together a nifty win skein recently. Let's look at the dramatic win over Chokio (the Coyotes) in a game played on July 6, here.
How dramatic? The Eagles were on the ropes through much of the game, trailing 5-0 after seven innings and 5-1 after eight.
The pressure was on in the ninth to get something going. The odds didn't look good.
But the Eagles had the clutch tools to surge and thrill their home fans. What a rally it was in the bottom of the ninth.
The Eagles played like there was a bounty on Coyotes (LOL). They rallied for five runs and came away with a 6-5 win.
The Eagles had only four hits through seven innings. Finally Craig Knochenmus hit an RBI single to put Morris on the scoreboard in the eighth. But with the score 5-1 the odds still looked long.
Knochenmus had his pitching arm called on in the top of the ninth and he survived a jam to blank Chokio. Craig worked out of a bases-loaded crisis, as Chokio had a chance to put this game away. Chokio would bemoan that failure.
Momentum built slowly for the Eagles in the bottom of the ninth. First there was a hit-by-pitch and then an error. Two baserunners were on but there were two outs!
Chokio might have been hesitant to pitch to Ross Haugen because he walked on four pitches.
Was Chokio hesitant to pitch to Ryan Beyer too? Beyer also walked and this of course forced in a run.
Craig Knochenmus then made a big statement with his bat. Eagles' fans had their eyes open wide as Knochenmus socked a double to right-center. This cleared the bases.
It's a whole new ballgame with the score tied!
Chokio had some trouble fielding the Knochenmus blast and this hurt their cause.
Up to bat stepped Eric Riley. Riley, fresh from his stellar prep season, showed he's quite at home in town ball as he singled to allow Knochenmus to pull in at third. It's getting more interesting all the time.
Now the bat is toted to the plate by an Eagle at the other end of the age spectrum from Eric. In the old days sportswriters used the term "graybeard" but I think that's trite. We'll just say that "veteran" Matthew Carrington, looking at a 3-2 pitch, hit a liner up the middle good for bringing the winning run in.
It's a victory for the Eagles - quite unforgettable. I hope this blog post helps preserve it.
Matthew is in his 22nd summer of amateur ball. (Holy cow, I remember covering him when he was in high school.)
Knochenmus got the pitching win. He was preceded on the hill by Nathan Gades (seven innings) and Carrington (one inning).
"Knochy" went three-for-five at bat including that essential double, and his RBI total was a robust four.
Carrington had a two-for-three showing as did Ross Haugen, and Ross trotted down to first on two walks.
The win allowed the Eagles to draw within one game of .500 in overall.
The Eagles also came from behind in their June 25 home game against rival Dumont (the Saints).
Dumont got the 2-0 edge. But in the end, it was the Eagles winning 6-4.
The Eagles got their engines humming in the third inning as Chris Boettcher with his authoritative double and Matt Carrington and Nathan Gades with singles drove in runs.
The Eagles were up 3-2 after three innings.
The Eagles assumed the lead for good in the fifth. Gades doubled in a run, and an error borught another run in.
Craig Knochenmus' bat made noise with a double in the eighth to plate Morris' final run.
As in the win over Chokio, Knochenmus played the closer role on the hill in the ninth, getting the save by blanking the Saints. In fact, "Knochy" struck out the side.
The Saints had to be wringing their hands over leaving 14 runners on base in this game. They left the sacks full three times!
But Morris had its share of woes in this regard too. Morris stranded 13 runners.
It was Carrington getting the pitching win. He was the starter and worked five innings.
Gades had a three-inning pitching stint. At the plate, Gades went two-for-four including a double.
Ross Haugen and Jamie Van Kempen also connected for two hits.
The Eagles got relief from all the recent suspense with a big 19-3 laugher over Benson on June 29, here.
Morris had 18 hits led by the red-hot Chris Boettcher who went five-for-five with five runs scored and four RBIs. He also drew a walk. He had a double and two stolen bases.
Ross Haugen connected for two doubles. Gades pitched the distance for the win.
Eagles fever - catch it! We're coming down the home stretch of the regular season.
- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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