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Baseball teams finds trouble in South Dakota, splits with Morningside
The Husky baseball team's pattern of losing close games continued this weekend, as they dropped both games of a doubleheader, 11-8 and 5-4 to the University of South Dakota, and split with Morningside College. After winning the first game on Sunday, 6-1, the Huskies fell to the Mustangs 5-2 in the second game.
Game one of Saturday's doubleheader against South Dakota had the Huskies leading as late as the sixth inning, but another late-inning collapse gave way to a five-run bottom of the sixth for the Coyotes and the victory.
The Huskies came out of the gates, hitting Coyote pitcher Albert Jones hard. Leadoff hitter Kyle Heckendorf singled to right field and was followed by Mike Holman, who sent one deep to right center for his third home run of the year and a two-run Husky lead.
"It was just a first pitch fast ball out over the plate," Holman said. "It was the first pitch I'd seen in the game. I wanted to jump on it."
Husky pitcher Matt Beyer struggled in the bottom of the first, hitting the leadoff batter and giving up a single before surrendering a three-run homer to Coyote catcher Dean Devine.
But the Huskies came back in the top of the second with two runs to reclaim the lead. Peter Burkstrand walked and Will Spencer singled. An error committed by Coyote center fielder Bryan Hohenthaner allowed the runners to move up a base, and Burkstrand scored third on a Chris Kratochvil groundout. Spencer then scored on a sacrifice fly to center off the bat of Kyle Heckendorf.
After the Coyotes came back to tie it at four in the bottom of the third, the Huskies responded by scoring four runs in the fourth. Burkstrand and Spencer both singled to center, and Heckendorf then singled to score Burkstrand from third after Kratochvil advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt. Holman doubled to right to score Spencer and advance Heckendorf to third. Andy Gretz flied out to left to score Heckendorf for the inning's fourth run.
The Huskies added another run in the fifth, when catcher Mark Fischer singled in Parnell O'Connor, who led off by walking, stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error. After stretching the lead to four, the Coyotes came back to score twice in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 8-6. The Huskies had an excellent chance to add some insurance runs in the sixth, but failed to convert.
With runners on second and third and one out, the Coyotes decided to intentionally walk Gretz rather than pitch to the Huskies' most dangerous hitter. The strategy worked as Coyote reliever Rob Miller worked his way out of the jam by retiring the next two Husky batters and keeping them from adding to their lead.
"There's lots of places in a seven inning game where you could say, 'If we only did that...'," Holman said. "But that was definitely a key moment for us."
Things began to fall apart for the Huskies in the sixth as they sometimes do in the late innings. A leadoff double and an error put two runners on for Devine, who hit his second three-run shot of the game. The Coyotes then strung together three more hits to drive in two more runs and garnered an 11-8 lead they wouldn't surrender.
Game two against the Coyotes started in a similar way to the first game. Heckendorf reached on a walk and stole second. Holman grounded out, advancing Heckendorf to third. Gretz then grounded out to second to score Heckendorf and take a 1-0 lead.
The lead would be short lived, however. After Husky hurler Blayne Penney retired the first two batters he faced, he walked Devine, and then gave up a two-run homer to Coyote first baseman and cleanup hitter Rob Heisel. Each team would add a run in the third. SCSU got theirs when the hot-hitting Heckendorf doubled and eventually scored on a throwing error by the catcher, Devine.
"I'm starting to swing at better pitches," said Heckendorf about his recent success. "Before I was chasing, but now I'm waiting and putting the ball in play."
The Coyotes got their run across by stringing three singles together. Penney appeared to be in a jam in the third before Coyote batter Todd Dekkers hit a line drive at Gretz, who then stepped on first for the unassisted double play.
The fourth inning proved to be difficult for Penney. After getting right fielder Horace Lawrence to pop out to second, Penney gave up three consecutive hits before being replaced by lefthander Nick Miller. Miller then got the next two batters he faced to fly out, but the Coyotes scored another run on a sacrifice fly to center. The Coyotes scored two runs on three hits to increase their lead to three at 5-2. The Huskies added a run in the fifth and another in sixth, but the damage was done. The Huskies suffered another close defeat 5-4.
"We need to start playing with more confidence," Holman said. "Winning breeds confidence, and we need more confidence in our pitching, hitting, and fielding. All aspects of the game."
Sunday afternoon's series in Sioux City against Morningside College yielded slightly better results. The Huskies won the first game against the Mustangs 6-1, but were defeated in game two 5-2. The Huskies' consistency has been lacking as well as their confidence when the game is on the line.
"When it happens to you a couple of times, you start to get nervous and it happens again," said Heckendorf. "We need to relax and play in the late innings like we do early."
Drew Herron can be reached at: [email protected]
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