The St. Stephen Steves used 7 unanswered runs in the middle innigs to power them to a 12-8 home win over the Avon Laker on Sunday’s Opening Day contest. Jack Greenlun Homered twice and Mat Meyer also went deep for the Steves and Matthew Young pitched 6 effectinve innings of relief to get the Win.
The runs came early and often in this one as Avon got 1 in the 1st and then 4 in the 2nd while the Seves put up 2 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd to leave the game tied 5-5 after 2 innings
Avon’s 1st inning run came when Ryan Janzen, who missed all of last year with an injured elbow, led off with a single. 2 outs later, a Reese Gregory single moved Janzen to 3rd. Elian Mezquita then hit a ground ball that was misplayed for an error, allowing Janzen to score and make it 1-0.
The Steves came back with 2 in their half of the 1st when Charlie Kent led off with a double and then scored on a double by Mat Meyer to make it 1-1. Zack Fuecker then singled to move Meyer to 3rd. After a strikeout, a Joe Tuholsky ground out brought home Mat Meyer to make it 2-1 after 1 inning.
The Lakers then put up 4 runs in the top of the 2nd when Abe Kalthoff led off with a walk, Nick Merdan was hit by a pitch, and Ryan Janzen singled with 1 out to load the bases. A walk to Elliott Burnett forced in Abe Kalthoff to make it 2-2. Caleb Curry then popped up to 1st for the 2nd out. Reese Gregory then walked with the bases loaded to score Nick Merdan to put Avon ahead 3-2. Elian Mezquita then doubled to center to drive in both Janzen and Burnett and Avon was up 5-2.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Landon Lunser reached on a 1-out error, then Charlie Kent walked with 2 outs. Mat Meyer then ripped a 3-run Homer to left and the game was all knotted up at 5-5 after 2 innings.
The scoring then settled down as the game remained tied at 5-5 until the bottom of the 5th when the Steves got a double from Zack Fuecker and then a 2-run Homer from Jack Greenlun to make it 7-5.
St. Stephen’s power struck again in the bottom of the 6th when Landon Lunser singled and both Matthew Young and Charlie Kent walked to load the bases. Mat Meyer singled to right to drive in Lunser to make it 8-5. Zack Fuecker then bounced into a fielders choice that allowed Matthew Young to score and make it 9-5. They weren’t done however, as Jack Greenlun then stepped up and crushed his 2nd HR of the game, a 3-run blast to left to make it 12-5.
In the top of the 7th, Avon’s Caleb Curry walked and Reese Gregory singled. Then a series of wild pitches allowed both Curry and Gregory to score and it was 12-7.
In the top of the 9th, Caleb Curry doubled with 1 out for Avon, and Reese Gregory then followed with an rbi double of his own to bring home Curry and make it 12-8. But then Steve pitcher Matthew Young got Elian Mezquita to ground out to 3rd and then got the final out on a bouncing ball to shortstop Joe Tuholsky as the Steves nailed down the 12-8 Opening Day win.
Avon 8 8 2 – 8
St. Stephen 12 11 2 – 12
WP: Matthew Young 6.0 IP 3 runs 4 hits 6k 2bb
Landon Lunser 3.0 IP 5 runs 4 hits 3k 3bb 1hp
LP: Elliott Burnett 5.0 IP 10 runs 8 hits 5k 4bb 1hp
Elian Mezquita 1.0 IP 2 runs 3 hits 1k 0bb
Reese Gregory 2.0 IP 0 runs 0 hits 2k 1bb
St. Stephen:
Charlie Kent 1-3 2B, 2bb, 3 runs
Mat Meyer 3-4 Hr, 2B, bb, 5 rbi, 2 runs
Zack Fuecker 3-5 2B, rbi, 2 runs
Jack Greenlun 2-5 Hr(2), 5 rbi, 2 runs
Joe Tuholsky 0-5 rbi
Lucas Greenlun 0-5
Reid Lunser 0-3
– Brody Wolhart 0-0
Landon Lunser 1-3 bb, hp, 2 runs
Matthew Young 1-3 bb, run
Avon:
Ryan Janzen 3-5 2 runs
Elliott Burnett 0-4 bb, rbi, run
Caleb Curry 1-4 2B, bb, 2 runs
– Jackson Henderson 0-0
Reese Gregory 3-4 2B, bb, 2 rbi, run
Elian Mezquita 1-5 2B, 2 rbi
Jack Theisen 0-5
Abe Kalthoff 0-2 bb, run
– Griffin Roemeling 0-1
Nick Merdan 0-3 hp, run
– Tyson Frericks 0-0
Carter Holthaus 0-3 bb