West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

Few would have expected the final outcome of Friday night's State League game versus the Kenosha Kings. Even fewer would have believed that the Nationals were in control of the game for the first 5 innings. Friday night the Nationals were trumped by the Kings 17-6. It was the most lopsided defeat for the team since 1995. The local 9 jumped to a 2-0 in the first inning, capitalizing on a walk and 3 Kings' errors. After the Kings notched one run in the fourth on a run scoring double, the Nationals matched. Jake Koutnik's two out, RBI double scored Tom Donovan and the team had a 3-1 lead after 5 innings. Then things changed. Tim Spata, pitching for the first time in a month, began to tire. After holding the Kings to 4 hits through 5 innings, Spata was tagged for 5 hits in the 6th. Combined with 2 walks and an error, the Kings' posted 7 runs to jump ahead 8-3. The Nationals responded in the 7th. After Alex Franson and James Herkowski led off the inning with singles, Jake Koutnik walked to load the bases. Pat Bovee, in his Nationals hitting debut, pounded a seeing-eye single to score two, and Tim Spata followed with an RBI single. With the score 8-6, the team was poised for a comeback. It was not to be. Jim Dettman gave up 6 consecutive hits to lead off the 9th inning, capped by a 3 run homer, and the Kings put the game away. When the matter was settled, the Kings had added 6 runs to put the game away. The team plays again tonite in a key league matchup versus the King Pins. First pitch is scheduled for 7PM at Harden Field.