Blue Sox come up short against Mankato Mets
Published 11:11 pm Friday, July 11, 2014
Austin Blue Sox first baseman Mark Harber puts the tag on Mankato Met’s runner Mitch Kleist on a pick-off Friday night at Marcusen Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin Blue Sox pitcher Cody Schact delivers against the Mankato Mets Friday night at Marcusen Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Austin Blue Sox nearly pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind win in their section opener against the Mankato Mets, but they came up a little short in a 7-6 loss at Marcusen Park Friday.
The Blue Sox had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning when Cody Meyer hit a deep fly ball to right field that was caught near the wall for a sacrifice fly. Then, with runners on the corners, Mark Harber had his flare to right field hauled in by Mankato’s right fielder to end the game.
“All of the credit in the world to that right fielder, he put us away by himself,” Blue Sox manager Josh Kunze said.
The Blue Sox (6-8 overall, 0-1 section) had trailed 6-2 when they posted three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Marcus Stoulil had a two-out, two-RBI single in that frame to make it 6-5.
The Mets had scored four runs on four hits in the top of the seventh to take a big lead.
“It’s hard to hold these guys down. They’re a really good hitting team and always have been,” Kunze said. “We wish we would’ve had a little better damage control, but we battled back and we had a lot of good at bats with guys playing baseball beyond their years.”
Austin held a 2-0 lead after five innings as Cody Schact was dominant early on. Schact allowed a couple of runs in the sixth, but he finished with just three hits and one walk given up in six innings, while striking out four.
“Cody Schact was very sharp tonight, especially through five. We’re going to need Cody Schact to be very sharp if we plan on winning some playoff games,” Kunze said. “It’s very encouraging that we started out up 2-0. We played a little small ball and got some timely hits. We were right were we anted to be.”
Mets 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 1 — 7 7 3
Blue Sox 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 0 1 — 6 7 3
Blue Sox pitching: Cody Schact, 6 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 ER, 4 K, 1 HBP; Lukas Anderson, 3 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 1 HBP
Blue Sox hitting: Jamie Adams, 0-for-4, RBI, BB; Marcus Stoulil, 1-for-4, 2 RBIs, BB; Cody Meyer, 0-for-3, RBI, BB; Mark Harber, 2-for-4, double, BB; Brandon Rector, 0-for-3, R; Nate Wilson, 1-for-4, R; Anderson, 2-for-3, R, BB; Carter Guthmiller, 1-for-3, RBI; Quinn Yocom, 0-for-3, 2 R, BB
