West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

League play in the Milwaukee Independent Wood Bat League began Saturday night. To kick off the inaugural campaign, schedule makers pitted the Cubs and Nationals, contestants in last year's championship series, and titans of the past decade. Combined, the teams have won 9 of the past 10 Milwaukee County grand championships. The results were somewhat unexpected. After struggling to score runs in 3 of 4 games last weekend, the Nationals offense exploded. When the the dust (literally) cleared, the Nationals had swept the Cubs by scores of 12-5 and 11-6. The Nationals jumped to an early 4-0 lead in the opener. Trevor Koepp put the team on the board with an RBI single in the first. After Joe Reisinger reached on an error, Tom Donovan smoked a 2 run double down the right field line. Reisinger later scored on a past ball. The Cubs, however, were unfazed. They chipped away with runs in the third and fifth innings before taking a 5-4 lead with a three run sixth. That lead was short lived. Tom Donovan led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, and after consecutive walks to Brian Gibson and Tim Spata, Mike Wajerski tied the score on a sacrifice fly. A Jake Paige RBI single gave the team the lead and the rout was on. Tim Ustruck picked up his first Nationals victory in relief of Jim Dettman. Ustruck came on in the sixth to douse a rally and put the Cubs down in order in the seventh. Trevor Koepp, and Tom Donovan led the offense with two hits each. Donovan added three RBI's. Game two began quite differently. After the Nationals tallied two on RBI singles from Koepp and James Herkowski, the Cubs roared back to take a 6 - 2 lead after one inning. Joe Kissler started on the mound and struggled to find his groove, but two infield errors proved devastating. A resilient bunch, the Nationals responded immediately. Koepp and Herkowski knocked in runs in the second to bring the team back within two at 6-4. The team followed with 4 in the third and 3 in the fourth and the turnaround was complete. Kissler settled in after a rocky first inning, holding the Cubs scoreless through six. Pat Bovee made his debut for the Nationals in the seventh, pitching a scoreless inning with a strikeout, walk, and one hit. Offensive stars in game two included Jake Paige, who contributed three hits and three runs, James Herkowski with three hits and three RBI, Trevor Koepp, with three hits and four RBI, and Mike Wajerski, with three safeties. Next up for the Nats will be McGuire's Cats Saturday May 31 at Zirkel Field in McCarty Park.

Welcome Back Trevor Koepp! In his 2003 debut with the Nationals, Koepp picked up where he left off in 2002. In Saturday nights sweep of the rival Cubs, Koepp collected 5 hits and 6 RBI's. This comes after Koepp set a team record in 2002 with 40 RBI. The standard has been set, Marksy. Do I hear you?

Congrats to James Herkowski who hit .412 with 3 RBI and 4 runs scored on the Nationals season opening road trip to Menasha, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan. Herkowski contributed 5 hits in the season opening, sixteen inning loss and 2 additional knocks in a big win over the Sheboygan A's. Excellent work, James! Two hundred hits is coming on quickly.

For the second time in two years, the Nationals limped into Sheboygan little rest and sore bodies. For the second time in two years the Nationals were rewarded by getting to face the A's staff ace. For the second time in two years, the Nationals defeated the A's. Nationals win 2-1. This year, Sheboygan started Will Madson who was 12-0 for the A's in 2002. After striking out Jake Paige and Alex Franson to start the game, James Herkowski knocked a single to center. Chris Marks followed with an RBI double and the Nationals had an early 1-0 lead. The A's matched in the bottom half of the inning, but after that frame, Nationals pitching and defense proved superior. Ben Banning and Jim Dettman combined to limit the A's to only 3 hits and withstood a ninth inning rally. James Herkowski and Joe Reisinger led the offense, each contributing two hits and scoring a run. Ben Banning went six strong innings on the hill, allowing only two hits while striking out 6. Dettman earned the save with three innings of one hit ball. Next up for the Nationals are the rival Cubs. The league opener is slated for Saturday night at 6PM at Zirkel Field in McCarty Park. Admission is free! Come out and join the fun. More details to follow when time allows......

The Nationals didn't let the memory of Friday night's marathon loss linger very long. 12 hours after a 11-10, 16 inning defeat to Menasha, the local nine were back on the field to face Manitowoc. Led by Joe Kissler's stellar pitching, the team played a crisp game in defeating the Bandits 2-1. Kissler allowed only 2 hits and one unearned run while striking out 4. Effectively mixing his pitches and location, Kissler made good use of the two runs the offense was able to produce. Mike Wajerski provided the team with its only runs on RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings. Game Two was also crisply played, but the Nats were unable to generate enough offense to prevail, falling to the Bandits 3-2. The team had good scoring opportunities in the fourth and fifth innings, but failed to produce. A seventh inning rally fell short when Chris Marks flied out to left field with Alex Franson on third to end the game. Tim Spata and James Herkowski knocked in the team's only runs. Spata's RBI single in the second put the team on the board after Manitowoc had jumped to a first inning lead. Tim Spata took the loss, allowing nine hits and five walks. Next up for the Nationals are the Sheboygan A's on Sunday at 1PM.