West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The West Allis Nationals concluded their season Sunday night with a disappointing 12-2 loss in the Milwaukee County Minor League Championship game. In uncharacteristic fashion, the team gave the Cubs 7 unearned runs in the second inning and were never able to climb out of the hole. Despite rallies in each inning, the team failed to produce the timely hits that had been its trademark all year. 13 baserunners were stranded in the 7 inning affair. Though the score was lopsided it was somewhat misleading. Alex Franson effectively controlled the Cubs' offense for 5 innings mixing a slurve, change, and fastball. Had the team not committed two costly errors in the 7 run second, Franson would have been in position for the victory in his first start on the hill in a Nationals uniform. On offense, James Herkowski led the team with two hits. Jake Koutnik added a double and scored on a Joe Reisinger single in the second. After the tally the team was held scoreless until Chris Marks hit a solo homer in the seventh. The homer was Marks' third of the playoffs and sixth of the season. The Nationals completed their 27th season with a 20-10 mark, the team's third consecutive 20 victory season.