Win over Greenfield ends Tosa East losing streak

No. 9 hitter sparks victory in 7th inning

June 12, 2012

The highlight of a tough week for the Wauwatosa East baseball team was a final at-bat, 4-3 victory over Greenfield on Friday, snapping a six-game losing streak.

The Red Raiders are 4-8 overall through Monday, with a 3-7 record in the Greater Metro Conference.

They opened last week with a 10-0 loss at Sussex Hamilton on June 4 and then lost a 7-5 decision to West Allis Hale at Breitlow Field on June 6. The next day, the Red Raiders dropped a 6-1 decision at Muskego to extend the losing streak to six games.

After breaking the streak with the 4-3 non-conference win over Greenfield at Breitlow Field, Tosa East dropped a 10-5 decision at Franklin to start the week.

Russ comes through

Tosa East opened with a two-run first inning and the Hustlin' Hawks countered with a run in the third. East expanded the lead to 3-1 with a run in the fifth, but Greenfield tied the game with a bloop two-run double in the top of the seventh.

"There were two runners on and they dropped a ball into left field," Tosa East coach Brian Karas said. "It found a hole and they scored two runs."

But the Red Raiders, who could have folded the tents up, bounced back in the bottom of the inning.

Ninth-hitter Bobby Russ took a 1-2 pitch and ripped a double over the left fielder's head to leadoff the inning. The Hustlin' Hawks then intentionally walked Ben Carpenter bringing Steffen Uhrich to the plate.

He tried to bunt, but worked the count to 3-2 and then tomahawked a bunt to the pitcher. He threw to first, but the first baseman dropped the ball to load the bases. However, the ball squirted away and Russ came around to score the winning run. Russ finished with two hits, a double and scored twice to lead a six-hit attack.

Meidl has big day

Big innings continue to haunt the Red Raiders, as they let Hale score three runs in the third inning and two in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead on its way to a 7-5 victory last week.

Two walks, a single by East's Riley Poe and an infield hit by sophomore Jonah Meidl tied the game at 1-1 in the first. Hale banged out five hits in the third inning for a 4-1 lead, but the Red Raiders bounced back with two runs in the bottom of the third.

Colin Trautschold scored Uhrich from third with a grounder to short and then Meidl singled to center to drive in Bryce Kratzer to cut the lead to 4-3.

But then the Huskies used a two-run double by Alex Elenteny in the fourth to take a 6-3 advantage and added a run in the seventh on Dan Sotiros' RBI single for 7-3 lead.

Kratzer singled to start the seventh, Poe was hit by a pitch and Trautschold singled to left to load the bases. Kratzer scored on a wild pitch and Meidl's RBI grounder cut the lead to 7-5. But Hale got out of the jam with a strikeout and a grounder.

Meidl finished with three hits and two RBIs and made a diving catch in right field in the fourth inning.

"He's a total baseball gamer," Karas said. "He loves the game, has good approaches at the plate. He's only a sophomore, but he will have his ups and downs. He has a really nice arm."

Another sophomore - Ben Plaisted - finished the last three innings allowing only one run.

Defensively, catcher Riley Poe made a great catch on a foul ball right up against the backstop and Carpenter made a great play in the first inning on an attempted steal attempt.

With Hale runners on the corners, Hale tried to steal second. Poe rifled a throw to Carpenter, halfway between the mound and second and he drilled a throw to the plate, where Poe did a great job of catching it and then tagging the runner to prevent a big inning.

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