The Avon Lakers handed the Nisswa Lightning their 2nd loss of the season with a 6-1 win at Blattner Field in Avon on Friday night. Drew Lieser went 7 solid innings, scattering 5 hits while striking out 5 to get the Win while Elliott Burnett had 2 hits and a sacrifice fly while Reese Gregory also had a 2-hit game for Avon.
Nisswa struck first in the top of the 2nd inning when Drew Boland opened the inning with a single, but was forced out at 2nd on a grounder from Isaiah Biehn. After Biehn was likewise forced out on a grounder from Bodeie Piepkorn, Piepkorn advanced to 2nd on a passed ball. After Matt Casperson was hit by a pitch from Drew Lieser, Kody Ruedisili singled to score Piepkorn and make it 1-0.
Avon tied things up in the bottom of the 3rd against Nisswa starter Carter Dox when Jack Theisen led off by reaching on a throwing error. He went to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt from Carter Holthaus, then to 3rd on a Ryan Janzen single. Elliott Burnett’s sacrifice fly to right fielder Matt Casperson brought in Theisen to tie the game at 1-1 after 3 innings.
The Lakers grabbed the lead for good in the bottom of the 5th when Kadyn Mork led off with a double, and after a strikeout, Carter Holthaus walked. Ryan Janzen then hit into fielders choice ground out, taking Holthaus off the bases, leaving Mork at 3rd and Janzen at 1st with 2 outs. A wild pitch from Carter Dox allowed Mork to score and make it 2-1. Elliott Burnett then beat out an infield single and Ryan Janzen never slowed down rounding 3rd, as he raced for home and beat the throw back to the plate to score and make it 3-1 after 5 innings.
Avon finished off the scoring in the bottom of the 6th amd it started with a Reese Gregory single, followed by another hit from Elian Mezquita. Avon inserted Carter Wesen into the game as a pinch-runner for Gregory at 2nd with no outs. Kadyn Mork then laid down a sacrifice bunt, but pitcher Carter Dox’s throw sailed down the 1st base line, allowing both Wesen and Mezquita to score and make it 5-1 as Mork ended up on 2nd. Then it was Jack Theisen’s turn to bunt, and he managed to sacrifice Mork to 3rd with 1 out. Ryan Janzen then flew out to Nisswa center fielder Kody Ruedisili, as Kadyn Mork tagged up and scored on the sacrifice fly to make it 6-1 after 6 innings.
The rest of the game sped by, as Drew Lieser needed just 4 pitches to get through his final inning of the game, then turned things over to Reese Gregory for the 8th and 9th innings. Gregory allowed a base runner in the top of the 8th to lead off, but then got a strikeout and a nicely-turned 4-6-3 double play to end the 8th.
In the top of the 9th, Gregory went through the Nisswa lineup 1-2-3 to finish off the Lakers 6-1 victory.
These same two teams will play against each other again on Sunday in Nisswa starting at 1:30 pm.
Nisswa 1 5 3 – 1
Avon 6 9 1 – 6
WP: Drew Lieser 7.0 IP 1 run 5 hits 5k 1bb 3hp
Reese Gregory 2.0 IP 0 runs 0 hits 1k 0bb
LP: Carter Dox 6.0 IP 6 runs 7 hits 6k 2bb 1hp
Colbe Tappe 2.0 IP 0 runs 2 hits 3k 0bb
Lakers:
Ryan Janzen 1-4 sac fly, rbi, run
Elliott Burnett 2-3 sac fly, 2 rbi
Caleb Curry 0-3 hp
Nolan Dumonceaux 1-4
Reese Gregory 2-4
– Carter Wesen 0-0 run
Elian Mezquita 1-4 run
– Drew Lieser
– Abe Kalthoff 0-0
Kadyn Mork 1-3 2B, sac, 2 runs
Jack Theisen 0-3 sac, run
Carter Holthaus 1-1 2bb, sac
– Matt Meyer 0-0
Lightning:
Kody Ruesdisili 2-4 rbi
Blaine Hardy 0-3 sac
– Carter Dox
Jeremiah Piepkorn 1-4
Sam Peterson 0-2 2hp
Colbe Tappe 0-4
Drew Boland 1-4
Isaiah Biehn 0-2 bb, sb
– Sam Jensen 0-1
Bodie Piepkorn 1-4 run
Matt Casperson 0-2 hp
– Aaron Jenkins 0-1
