FRCC baseball: Manitowoc Lincoln strands 10 runners on base in loss to Sheboygan North
By Matt Wellens • Herald Times Reporter • May 15, 2009

MANITOWOC — Manitowoc Lincoln tallied 12 hits on Sheboygan North pitcher Alex Nelson Thursday while the Golden Raiders could only muster six hits off the Ships' Dan Brunmeier.

But with the Ships stranding 10 on the bases, including six in scoring position and three on third base, Lincoln coach Bruce Steinbecker was left with another frustrating loss at Municipal Field.

"They played all three phases of the game better than we did," Steinbecker said. "They pitched better. They hit better. They fielded better. We lost."

Lincoln posted a run in each of the first three innings but the Golden Raiders plated four in the top of the third en route to a 7-4 Fox River Classic Conference victory for the regular season sweep of their conference and WIAA Division 1 regional foes.

"We've been struggling," Sheboygan North coach Chris Wright said. "There's a lot of good teams in the league. We can't win a conference championship but we can look forward to the regionals.

"We're just trying to work on seeding and win as many games as possible."

All four Raider runs in the third came with two outs.

A walk to Nelson, double by Colin Willis, a passed ball and a RBI-single by Mike Belitz tied the game at 2. Ryan Hamm followed with a RBI triple for the go-ahead run and a RBI double by Ryan Eigenberger put the Raiders out front 4-2.

"Our team fought back and got a bunch of hits and scored some runs," Nelson said. "I was so relaxed after that (four-run third). It helped me pitching."

Nelson had a roung start after Tyler Wilke led off the first inning for Lincoln with a double. Wilke was eventually brought home by Nate Spurney on a sacrifice fly for the first out of the inning but a strike out and ground out left Ethan Jones stranded at third, leaving Lincoln with just the one run.

The trend carried over to the second when Andy Rosik, who went 2-for-3 at the plate, drove in Tyler Wetenkamp with a two-out, RBI triple but Rosik never made it home either.

The Ships were in position to retake the lead in the bottom half of the third when Brad Vallesky drove in Spurney with a one-out, RBI-single and Casey Schreiner drew a two-out walk to load the bases.

Nelson got out of the inning though by getting Wetenkamp to pop out to third base and from there he settled down, until the sixth inning when the Ships made one last push.

A two-out, RBI double by Spurney drove in Rosik to pull Lincoln within three. Brandon Bartels drew a walk and Valleskey, who was 3-for-4, nearly had a RBI-single to move the Ships within two. Spurney, who finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, tried to score from second, however, and was tossed out at home for the third out.

"The disappointing thing is we played really well Tuesday against a real good opponent in De Pere and then we came out today and just stunk it up," Steinbecker said.

Notes: Nelson drove in AJ Conrad for a run in the fourth inning. Conrad came home on a passed ball in the sixth and Kyle Hobart scored on an error in the sixth as well. ... Nelson gave up four runs off 12 hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out five and got the win. ... Brunmeier received the loss for Lincoln after giving up seven runs off six hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out five.