League rival hands Posen its first NSL losses
by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor
The Posen baseball team lost their first league games of the season Monday at Hillman, 6-1 and 3-2. The Vikings are 7-5 overall and 3-2 in the North Star League. They bombed Mio on both ends of a doubleheader at Mio, 15-3 and 13-6. The first game of the match-up with Hillman featured each team?s ace.
Posen sent Brandon Hentkowski to the mound, while Chris Richards toed the rubber for the home team. Richards out gunned Hentkowski by tossing a no-hitter. He allowed only three Viking batters to get on base. They all walked. Head coach Pat Kowalski said Richards is the hardest thrower his club has seen this season. On the efforts of his ace, Kowalski said Hentkowski ?pitched well enough to win.? The score was 3-1 headed into the bottom of the fifth, before some fielding problems helped Hillman put three additional runs on the board.
HENTKOWSKI (6-2) ALLOWED six hits and three earned runs, while allowing three walks and striking out three. The Vikings came back from a 3-0 deficit in game two to cut the Tigers? lead to one, but could get no closer. Hillman scored one in the first and two in the second. Posen came to life in the fourth on a Hentkowski double. Nick Idalski, who walked, joined him on the bases. Nathan Strzelecki singled to drive in Hentkowski. With Idalski at third, Scott Couture drove him home with a ground out.
Posen had a chance to tie in the top of the six. Hillman had brought in their ace to close out the game. Hentkowski singled sharply to get things going. Idalski got on board after a Hillman error and Strzelecki sacrificed the runners to second and third. With one out, Kowalski called for the suicide squeeze but Tyson Klecha popped up against Hillman?s hard throwing righthander, resulting in a double play. In search of a second starter, Aaron Romel turned in a solid performance and may have earned himself the spot. I
AT MIO, Hentkowski won both games in the sweep. He pitched the maximum of 30 outs for the Vikes. Twenty of them were via the K. He only walked three batters and gave up a total of five hits. Tyson Klecha was three-for-four with two RBI, while Justin LaPointe was two-for-four with one ribbie. Posen was down 4-3 in the fifth, before the red and white exploded for six runs. Strzelecki delivered a key double with a pair on to open things up. Hentkowski was three-for-three on the day.
Up next on the schedule will be a pair at home against Arenac, at the Mackinaw City Tournament Saturday, and then back home Monday against Fairview.