The Freeport Black Sox picked up their first win of the season, beating the Pierz Bulldogs 9-7 in 11 innings at Hellie Field on Sunday. Iver Papke and Kaden Toutges delivered rbi singles for Freeport in the top of the 11th to break the 7-7 tie and propel the Sox to their first win.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st when Cooper Grashorn led off with a double, followed by a Mason Herold rbi double to make it 1-0. Teddy Dehler then singled to put runners at the corners, with Cody Weiss then cracking the Bulldogs 3rd double of the inning, scoring both Herold and Dehler to make it 3-0 before Freeport starter Jadin Norby struck out the next 3 hitters to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Pierz tacked on 2 more runs when Teddy Dehler singled and stole 2nd. After a walk to Cody Weiss, Norby got a ground out to 1st and a strikeout, but then an rbi single from Aeden Janson brought home Dehler to make it 4-0 and Link Toops followed with an rbi single of his own to plate Weiss to give the Bulldogs a 5-0 lead after 3 innings.
Freeport closed the gap considerably in the top of the 4th, scoring 4 times on 2 hits and 3 walks. A walk to Bryan Benson was followed by a single from Matt Johnson to put runners at the corners. Johnson swiped 2nd, followed by a walk to Jake Braegelmann to load the bases with no outs. Iver Papke then walked, forcing in Benson to make it 5-1. Matt Johnson then scored on a ground out by Carter Neuenschwander to make it 5-2. Nate Winter then drove in a run with a ground out, followed by an rbi double from Kaden Toutges that brought in Iver Papke to make it 5-4.
In the top of the 5th, Freeport tied things up when Jake Braegelmann doubled home Bryan Benson to even things up at 5-5.
The Black Sox took their first lead in the top of the 7th when Jake Braegelmann singled with 2 outs and then scored on a run-scoring double from Iver Papke to give Freeport a 6-5 lead at the 7th inning stretch.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Bulldogs regained the lead Gunnar Gustafson led off with a single and was sacrificed to 2nd by Deegan Beck. Aeden Janson then cracked a game-tying double, scoring Gustafson to make it 6-6. Link Toops then doubled to left-center, scoring Janson and Pierz was back in front 7-6 heading to the 9th.
In the top of the 9th, Bryan Benson took a lead-off walk, but then was forced out at 2nd on a grounder by Matt Johnson. Johnson then used his speed, stealing both 2nd and 3rd, setting himself up to score the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Iver Papke to make it 7-7.
The Bulldogs went down in order in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to extra innings.
Freeport got a baserunner with 2 outs in the top of the 10th when Mason Toutges reached on an error, but a Bryan Benson ground out to 2nd ended the inning.
In the bottom of the 10th, a groundout to shortstop and a pair of strikeouts from Carter Neuenschwander moved the game to the 11th.
Matt Johnson led off the top of the 11th with a double for the Black Sox and was sacrificed to 3rd by Jake Braegelmann. Iver Papke gave Freeport an 8-7 lead with an rbi single to score Matt Johnson. After a steal of 2nd by Papke and a pop up to catcher Teddy Dehler produced the 2nd out, Nate Winter singled to advance Papke to 3rd. Kaden Toutges then singled to score Papke and make it 9-7, heading to the bottom of the 11th.
Link Toops led off the 11th with his 3rd hot of the game for the Bulldogs, a single. But he was forced out on a ground ball from Brian Kiel. Cooper Grashorn then singled to move Kiel to 2nd, bringing the potential winning run to the plate with 1 out. Mason Herold then hit into a force out, retiring Grashorn at 2nd and Pierz had Brian Kiel at 3rd and Mason Herold at 1st with 2 outs when Herold was thrown out trying to steal 2nd by Freeport catcher Ben Millard to end the game with Freeport winning 9-7.
Freeport 9 10 0 – 9 11 innings
Pierz Bulldogs 7 14 3 – 7
WP: Carter Neuenschwander 3.2IP 0 runs 2 hits 5k 0bb
Jadin Norby 7.1IP 7 runs 12 hits 9k 1bb
LP: Brian Kiel 1.2IP 2 runs 3 hits 0k 0bb
Cody Weiss 4IP 4 runs 2 hits 1k 5bb
Gunnar Gustafson 3IP 2 runs 4 hits 2k 2bb
Cooper Grashorn 2IP 1 run 0 hits 2k 4bb
Mitchell Herman 0.1IP 0 runs 1 hit 0k 1bb
Black Sox:
Mason Toutges 0-5 2bb, 2 sb
Bryan Benson 0-2 4bb, sb, 2 runs
Matt Johnson 2-6 2B, 3 sb, 3 runs
Jake Braegelmann 2-3 2B, sac, 2bb, rbi, 2 runs
Iver Papke 3-5 2B, bb, sac fly, 4 rbi, 2 runs
Carter Neuenschwander 0-5 bb, rbi
Nate Winter 1-6 rbi
– Andrew Kerzman 0-0
Kaden Toutges 2-6 2B, 2 rbi
Ben Millard 0-4 2bb
Bulldogs:
Cooper Grashorn 3-6 2B(2), run
Mason Herold 1-6 2B, rbi, run
Teddy Dehler 2-5 2 sb, 2 runs
Cody Weiss 1-4 2B, bb, 2 rbi, run
Gunnar Gustafson 2-5 sb
– Jordan Orton 0-0 run
Deegan Beck 0-4 sac
Aeden Janson 2-5 2B, 2 rbi, run
Link Toops 3-5 2B, 2 rbi
Brian Kiel 0-5