by Chris Byrnes, Embrach Mustangs
The Embrach Mustangs won both games versus the Luzern Eagles on Saturday taking the first game by a score of 11-4 and winning a very close second game by the score of 3-2. The wins pushed the Mustangs record to 4-2.
In game one, the Eagles gave the ball to Stephan Haltmeier to face the Mustangs Christian Klarer. The Mustangs have struggled in the past versus Haltmeier but on Saturday they managed to get four runs in the first inning. Haltmeier walked the leadoff batter Harry Wischnewski and then retired the next two batters before giving up four consecutive hits to Christian Klarer, Tommy Fasching, Tim Jones and Chris Byrnes.
The Mustangs added another run in the 3rd inning with a two out single by Chris Byrnes to make it 5-0. In the fourth inning Josh Crouse delivered a double to score Harry Wischnewski who had singled making the score 6-0.
The Eagles got on the board in the sixth inning when Alex Tifa Cruz hit a long double and scored on a ground ball by Junior Rosario. The Mustangs answered right back in the sixth inning when Crouse singled in Stephan Pribitzer who made an amazing diving slide to avoid the tag from the catcher to make it a 7-1 ball game.
In the seventh inning Christian Klarer started to tire and Ollie Walser came in to get the Mustangs out of a difficult spot. He inherited runners on second and third with no outs. Walser got Yanik Probst to fly out for the first out and intentionally walked Cruz to load the bases. Walser got behind Tom Enz and the tall lefty made him pay the price as Enz deposited a double scoring two runs to make it a 7-4 ball game. The Mustangs countered the Eagles attack with a four run seventh to put the game out of reach. Walser was perfect the rest of the way to preserve the 11-5 victory.
The three stars of the game were Christian Klarer, Ollie Walser and Alex Tifa Cruz
The second game was a pitching duel between Tim Jones and James Chapman. The Eagles were able to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. A two out base hit by Yanik Probst started the rally. He moved to second on a passed ball and then James Chapman reached first base on an error putting runners on 1st and 3rd base. The Eagles executed a delayed steal and the Mustangs threw wild to third base allowing Probst to score the first run of the game. Chapman advanced to second base on the wild throw. The next batter Marco Limbacher then singled to right field to score Chapman to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
Chapman was nearly perfect in the first five innings as he pitched with great confidence and poise and kept the Mustangs scoreless. In the sixth inning the Mustangs offense finally reached Chapman for a run. Ollie Walser lead-off with a line drive single to leftfield. Harry Wischnewski then bunted Walser to second base. Josh Crouse then hit a single to score Walser from second base to make the score 2-1 after six innings.
The seventh inning remained scoreless. In the bottom of the eight inning the Mustangs applied pressure on the Eagles. Chapman allowed a leadoff single to Stefan Cadonau and Ollie Walser bunted him over to second base. Josh Crouse was again clutch delivering a single to tie the game at two apiece. Crouse advanced to second on the throw home. Tim Jones walked to put runners at 1st and 2nd base with two outs. Christian Klarer came to the plate and hit a ground ball up the middle that the Eagles could not handle cleanly and Crouse came around to score from second base to put the Mustangs up 3-2.
Tim Jones then retired the Eagles in the ninth to pick up the win. Jones had 21 strike outs on the day and allowed only three hits. Chapman pitched brilliant in defeat as he struck out 8 and allowed only two earned runs. The Eagles second baseman H Delgado recorded his first NLA hit in the second inning.
The three stars of the game were Tim Jones, Josh Crouse and James Chapman