West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The two-time defending champions opened the league season in impressive fashion Sunday night. In a road DH versus the expansion Landmark Inn franchise the Nationals cruised to 18-0 and 11-0 victories. Rain shortened game two to three innings, but Landmark conceded the victory. There was no shortage of impressive performances. Leading the offense were Jim Dettman, Chris Marks, Alex Franson, and newcomer Mike Wajerski. Each contributed multiple hit games. Tim Spata was the winning pitcher in game one, going the distance while striking out 6 and walking 2. Nick Kibler cruised in the rain shortened nightcap. Kibler struck out 8 and walked 4 in the rain-shortened contest. FOR COMPLETE STATS ON THE GAME CLICK ON THE APPROPRIATE LINK IN THE LEFT HAND COLUMN.

Saturday's DH versus Lifetime Financial was postponed due to wet grounds. A time and date for the makeup has yet to be scheduled.

Carthage College is headed back home. With a 3-0 lead in the seventh inning of their first tournament game, the Redman imploded. 12 runs, 6 hits, 4 errors, and 3 hit batsmen later, the team was doomed to an uphill battle through the losers' bracket. That proved to be an insurmountable challenge Saturday. The Redman ended their run at the National Championship with a 15-5 loss the the College of New Jersey. Congrats to Nationals Dan Lorum, Jimmy Jungbauer, and Johnny Meier!

The Nationals gained their first win of the year in improbable fashion Sunday. Trailing 5-0 in the seventh inning, the team rallied for eight runs and held on for an 8-5 victory over the Sheboygan A's in Sheboygan. After being stymied by A's ace, Mike Casper for six innings, the Nationals took advantage of his replacement. A combination of patience and timely power led to eight unanswered runs. Trevor Koepp's three run home run to left field opened the flood gates and Chris Marks' bases clearing double closed the scoring. Jim Dettman went all seven innings for the Nationals, walking 4 and striking out two. Dettman limited the potent A's offense to only 3 earned runs. The A's redeemed themselves in the nightcap with a 9-3 victory. The Nationals chased the A's starting pitcher in the third inning, taking a 3-2 lead. The A's, however, answered with two of their own and never looked back. The Nationals, now 1-4, open the regular season on Saturday night at Zirkel Field in McCarty Park. The first game of the DH begins at 6PM.

The Nationals wasted a strong effort by starting pitcher, Ben Banning, Friday night in Menasha. 4 defensive miscues and several mental errors contributed to the team's 7-3 loss. Banning held the Macs hitless for three innings and four in the game, but was doomed by unearned runs. The Macs tallied single unearned runs in the third and fifth innings before breaking the game open in the sixth. Eleven men went to the plate that inning, with 5 scoring on only three hits. The Nationals offense produced seven hits in the contest. Chris Marks led the way with two hits and James Herkowski knocked in two runs with an RBI double. The team travels to Manitowoc Saturday for a double dip against the Bandits. Tickets are still available