Hornets commit 9 errors behind strong effort from Dinsmore in loss to Irish
| BataviasBest.org
Sunday, April 26, 2015
In a close early-morning game on Saturday, the Notre Dame Baseball team was able to outlast the Oakfield Hornets by a score of 2-1. The big hit for the Irish came off the bat of Michael Muehlig in the top of the seventh inning, as the ND first baseman stroked a long fly ball double to left field (which may have been misplayed by the OA outfield) – scoring teammate Cal Tygart for what turned out to be the game-winning run.
Prior to the final frame, quality pitching and sloppy play were the stories of the game.
In what turned out to be a pitcher’s duel between starters Dan Dinsmore (OA) and Cal Tygart (ND), each side’s defensive unit would struggle to back up their man on the mound from the very start – as both the Irish and (perhaps even more so) the Hornets committed a number of serious blunders throughout the contest in order to give their opponent various chances to win the game.
With the Irish stepping to the plate to begin the game, lead-off batter Casey Midwick started things off by finding a hole and reaching base on a single – giving his team an immediate chance. Next up for ND was Cal Tygart who found a way on base by way of an E6. Following Tygart’s at bat, Mike Falitico would ground out for the first out of the inning – moving Midwick to third and Tygart to second with only one out.
After the 6-3 putout of Falitico, Muehlig would then come to bat for the Irish and before he would go down on strikes, a passed ball that squeaked by the Hornets’ catcher would allow Midwick to score the game’s first run – giving ND a 1-0 lead. Eventually Muehlig would indeed strike out, followed by a CJ Suozzi strikeout to end the inning, but the minor damage had been done and OA was now forced to comeback form an early deficit.
Taking to the field for the first time in the game, the Irish must have found comfort in the fact that they were able to snatch an early lead during a weekend road game – which are always relatively difficult to get up for.
Later in the inning as the Hornets came to bat for the first time, they were unable to manage a baserunner and went down in order – leaving the score at 1-0 heading into the second.
In the ensuing frame Tyler Prospero would lead things off for the Irish and was able to reach base on another error
by the Oakfield defense, giving his team a spark with nobody out for the second-consecutive inning. However, OA’s Dinsmore was able to buckle down and take the next two batter’s respective fates into his own hands, getting a weak fly ball to left, and then a strikeout, which froze Prospero at first base with two outs – seemingly halting the potential rally.
Although, despite how it seemed, next up for the Irish was their number nine hitter Peter Madafferi who served a well-struck, routine fly ball to right-center field which was then dropped by the Hornets’ outfielder – allowing Prospero to advance all the way from first to third.With two errors throughout just the first nine batters they faced, things were already coming apart for Oakfield.
Luckily for them, though, Dinsmore was able to settle things down by getting the top of the ND order (Midwick) to ground out to second base which maintained the Hornets’ one-run deficit, and ended the opposing threat.
To begin the bottom of the second, the OA offense appeared to seize the momentum for a brief time but eventually failed to convert on their chance.
Starting things off for the Hornets in their second at bat was cleanup hitter Tyler Hamm who reached base on a frozen rope single – which was his team’s first hit, and baserunner, of the game. Next up for Oakfield was Casey Arnold who would also put the ball in play, but failing to get it past the infield it resulted in a 6-4 fielder’s choice and the inning’s first out.
Jordan D’Alba would then step to the plate for OA and ground into a 4-3 force, allowing Arnold to advance into scoring position with two outs. Tygart would then plunk the Hornets’ next batter (Woodward), but before OA could truly seize the momentum, the ND hurler retired Josiah Yantz by way of strikeout in order to end the scoring chance.
In the top of the third Dinsmore continued to deal for the Hornets, retiring the side in order during the frame. The slim right hander would get Tygart to fly to left, Falitico to look at strike three, and Muehlig to strike out swinging, which would allow his team a chance at tying the score with just one tally in the bottom half.
Fortunate to escape any mistakes up until the third inning, ND’s ability to hold-off defensive errors would come to a close as the frame began.
Starting things off for the Hornets in the third was Jake Mandell who laced a single off of Tygart which gave the Hornets one on with nobody out – and their leadoff hitter Allen Chatt stepping to the plate. Immediately at the beginning of Chatt’s at bat, Tygart would attempt to catch Mandell napping at first and hurled a pick-off throw to Muehlig, who was covering.
Instead of reaching the first basemen’s mitt, however, the ball would wind up about twenty feet past Muehlig and against the chain link fence that was guarding the out of play boundary. Despite his hustle to get to the overthrow as soon as possible, Muehlig was unable to do so before Mandell quickly swiped two free bases – leaving him on third with nobody out.
Now left with no other choice but to go after the batter, Tygart would serve up a belt-high fastball to Chatt in a 3-2
count which was lifted into left field – but deep enough to score the runner from third. The sac-fly for Chatt tied the score, and much like the early ND run, the first tally for OA was provided to them on a silver platter due to sloppy defensive play by their opponent.
Dinsmore was next up for Oakfield and would ground into a 4-3 force, followed by Mitchell Hale who would reach base on an infield single – only to be thrown out at second while attempting to steal on the very next pitch. As the inning came to a close the Hornets had done what they needed to do, as the two sides now sat in a tie ballgame almost midway through the contest.
Over the course of the next three innings Tygart and Dinsmore really began to lock-in.
Aside from a few ND chances during that time (which was largely due to the OA infield’s continued inability to field the ball) the two starting pitchers would combine for 8 strikeouts and 3 hits from the fourth-sixth inning – with each providing their team a quality chance to win the ballgame in the seventh.
However, as the two sides reached the final inning, Dinsmore simply could not make up for his defense’s mistakes any longer.
First up for the Irish in the top half the final frame was Tygart who managed a weak fly ball to first base – which was subsequently dropped by the Hornets infielder attempting to make the play. Following the misplayed fly, an attempted pickoff at first base (perhaps an example of Dinsmore trying to take matters into his own hands following poor defensive play) would tip off the first basemen’s glove and roll all the way to the fence.
The throw over seemed good enough to be caught albeit a bit to the right, but regardless, the overthrow advanced Tygart to second base which left him in favorable scoring position – still with nobody out.
Next up for the Irish was Larry Infantino (who had come on for Falitico in the top of the sixth inning) and the substitute catcher was able to rope a deep fly to right-center field. Although OA’s Chatt was able to run the ball down for the inning’s first out, Tygart found a way to advance to third base on the deep shot and gave his team n even better chance to take the led with one out. Next up: Michael Muehlig.
Sitting at 0/3 with two strikeouts up until his at bat in the seventh, Muehlig picked a great time for his first base hit of the day, as he found a pitch that he liked early in the count against Dinsmore and took a healthy swing at the ball – lacing it to deep left center field.
Originally, as the ball was struck, I thought the ball should have been more-aggressively played by the Hornets’ left fielder in this
instance. However, the OA centerfielder (Chatt) had gone after every fly ball he could get to throughout the game, which is the duty of a centerfielder, and once again ran all the way over from his position in order to make a play on the Muehlig fly ball.
Unable to track it down, however (I am unsure if the ball tipped off of his glove or not, although it didn’t seem to), the ball would finish its flight by burying itself into the turf at Chatt’s feet.
Reaching down to scoop the ball from the turf, Chatt would look up only to see Tygart nearing home plate for the go-ahead run, and Muehlig heading for second base. After getting the outfielder finally threw the ball into the pitcher, the Irish had indeed regained the lead and remained at the plate with a man in scoring position – with only one out.
Following Muehlig in the ND batting order was CJ Suozzi, who finished a solid day by reaching base on yet another error committed by the OA infield. In total, it was their ninth defensive miscue of the game and perhaps one of their most-troubling, as Muehlig was now on third, and Suozzi on first (who would eventually go to second on defensive indifference) – still with only one out.
The next batter for the Irish was Prospero, who finished a decent at bat with a deep fly to left field, which was in my mind, and the ND first base coach’s mind (who wasn’t too happy afterwards), clearly deep enough to score the runner from third – even with the Muehlig not possessing the fastest set of legs on his team.
However, failing to tag up on contact, Muehlig would return to the base without ample time to score before the throw from the outfield reached its mark. Making matters worse, the next ND hitter would ground out to second base, limiting the Irish scoring chance to just one run.
The mistake could have been costly for ND, as in a battle of such low score, and with two pitchers on the mound dealing the way Dinsmore and Tygart were – every run counts. Despite the mistake, though, the ND hurler wouldn’t allow the poor base running to come back and bite his team.
As the Hornets stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, despite giving up the lead in the top half, they seemed ready to go right back at the Irish. However, with Arnold leading things off for OA, the wind was quickly taken out of their sails by the Notre Dame defense.
To complete his at bat, Arnold was able to rip a looping line drive to short right field, where ND’s Suozzi had been playing relatively shallow all game long. In prime position to make a play on the ball, Suozzi ran in, made a dive, and came up with the big catch to give the Irish the first out of the frame.
Had the ball gotten by the diving right fielder, Arnold would have had an opportunity to make it all the way to third base – which would have set his team up rather nicely. But with Suozzi’s sliding grab the entire Oakfield side seemed to deflate, and eventually, the final two Hornets’ batters would go down in succession – leading to ND’s late 2-1 victory.
Aside from Tygart, who put forth an unbelievable complete game performance with 8 Ks and 4 hits allowed, Muehlig (1/4, RBI) and Suozzi (2/4, huge catch in 7th) also came up big for their team in this one.
As far as the Hornets were concerned, Dinsmore also endured a complete game from the mound striking out 8 while allowing just 5 hits along the way – two of which came on misplayed fly balls that the Hornets never were able to get a glove on. Despite pitching good enough to win, though, his defense let him down throughout the game – which the Irish, to their credit, were able to capitalize on.
There wasn’t much to write home about offensively for Oakfield, as Jake Mandell led the team with their only run scored while recording a base hit. Allen Chatt had the lone RBI on the sac-fly during the third.
Next up for the Irish will be Holley on Monday, while Oakfield takes on Pembroke the same afternoon. Holley has been playing quality baseball as of late and should provide the Irish with a quality challenge. Pembroke has struggled mightily this year, and should be a winnable game for the Hornets.
Stay tuned for more results this morning.
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