West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The West Allis Nationals jumped to an early lead and withstood a late RedDog rally to escape with an 7-6 victory in the season opener for both squads.

The Nats struck early.  After a leadoff walk to Adam Karas and another to Justin Molle, Paul Archambault ripped a double to left to plate the first run of the game.   After a walk to Alex Elliott, Ryan Hoffman singled to score Molle and push the lead to 2-0.   Curt Pryal then followed with a sharp grounder down the third base line which was gloved for a force at third, scoring Archambault on the play.   After one inning, the Nats led 3-0.

The Nats added to their lead with three more runs in the third on RBI singles by Eric Schrader and Jordan Koutnik and a bases loaded walk to Lance Longhenry.

In the seventh the Nats scored their last tally when Paul Archambault scored on an RBI single by Ryan Hoffman.

Brian Henschell stymied Genoa City's offense for the first 5 innings, allowing only an unearned run on 5 hits while striking out 4.   Curt Pryal followed for 3 innings, holding the RedDogs to 2 runs and departing with a 7-3 lead.

Genoa City made it a game in the ninth inning.  A run scoring double closed the gap to 7-4 with one out and runners on second and third.   Catcher Paul Archambault then picked off the runner at second for the second out of the inning and that play proved to be critical and Genoa City's Brian Dohse homered on the next pitch, plating two runs rather than three.

With the score 7-6 and two outs, Chad Tindall singled.  That brought GC's three hitter, Jason Dennis, to the plate.   Dennis lifted a ball to center that appeared to be going for extra bases, but the Nationals' Eric Schrader made a over the shoulder catch with his back to the infield to end the game.

Next up for the Nationals are the Kewaskum A's on Thursday night at Carl Kuss Field in West Bend.  First pitch is set for 7:30pm.