The Nisswa Lightning closed out the regular season with a 7-5 win at Trobec Memorial Field in St. Stephen on Sunday as Kody Ruedisili, Nate DeChaine and Jeremiah Piepkorn belted Home Runs for Nisswa. Blaine Hardy picked up the Win in middle relief. Mat Meyer was 2-5 for the Steves.
Starting pitchers Ben Dornseif of Nisswa and Landon Lunser of St. Stephen each pitched a scoreless first 2 innings before the Lightning got a 2-out solo Home Run from Nate DeChaine in the top of the 3rd to go ahead 1-0.
The Steves tied things up in the bottom of the 5th when Carter Ramsey reached 2nd base on a 1-out error. Charlie Kent then walked, followed by an rbi single from Joe Tuholsky that scored Ramsey and made it 1-1. Cole Fuecker then put a ball in play and the resulting fielders choice allowed not only Kent to score, but Tuholsky as well to give the Steves a 3-1 lead. Mat Meyer then singled to move Fuecker to 3rd. Jack Greenlun got hit by a pitch from Ben Dornseif to load the bases. A ground out by Lucas Greenlun drove in Cole Fuecker to put the Steves ahead 4-1 after 5 innings.
In the top of the 6th, Nate DeChaine took a lead-off walk from new Steves pitch Jack Greenlun. Jeremiah Piepkorn then smashed a 2-run Homer to left and the Lightning now trailed 4-3.
In the top of the 7th, Nisswa tied things up when Blaine Hardy walked, Matt Casperson reached on an error and Kody Ruedisili singled to load the bases with no outs. After Nate DeChaine went down on strikes, Jeremiah Piepkorn delivered a sacrifice fly to score Hardy and tie the game at 4-4. Nisswa scored for the 3rd straight inning in the top of the 8th when Aaron Jenkins walked and Brady Vanek singled. Blaine Hardy then hit into a fielders choice to score Aaron Jenkins and put Nisswa ahead 5-4. Kody Ruedisili then connected for a 2-out, 2-run Homer to put Nisswa ahead 7-4.
In the bottom of the 9th, Thomas Ellis led off with a single against relief pitcher Chris Pederson. Carter Ramsey flew out to center for the 1st out, then Carter Kent went down on strikes. Charlie Kent walked with 2 outs to bring the tying run to the plate. Cole Fuecker singled to left to drive in Ellis and make it 7-5 and now the Steves brought the potential winning run to the plate. But Chris Pederson got Mat Meyer to ground out to 3rd baseman Aaron Jenkins to end the game with Nisswa winning 7-5.
The Lightning finish the regular season with a record of 6-6 (4th place) while St. Stephen ends up 2-10 (7th place). The means that Nisswa will play Fort Ripley and St. Stephen will play Buckman in next weekend’s Section 4B Tournament in Avon.
Nisswa 7 12 1 – 7
St. Stephen 5 6 1 – 5
WP: Blaine Hardy 2.2IP 0 runs 0 hits 3k 0bb
Ben Dornseif 5.1IP 4 runs 4 hits 9k 3bb 1hp
SV: Chris Pederson 1.0IP 1 run 2 hits 1k 1bb
LP: Jack Greenlun 2.0IP 5 runs 4 hits 3k 4bb
Landon Lunser 5.0IP 1 run 4 hits 3k 0bb
Cole Fuecker 1.0IP 1 run 3 hits 1k 0bb
Reid Lunser 1.0IP 0 runs 1 hit 1k 1bb
Lightning:
Kody Ruedisili 3-5 Hr, 2 rbi, run
Nate DeChaine 1-3 Hr, bb, rbi, 2 runs
– Paul Jenkins 0-0
– Sam Jensen 1-1
Jeremiah Piepkorn 2-4 Hr, sac fly, 3 rbi, run
Sam Peterson 0-4 bb
Chris Pederson 0-5
Aaron Jenkins 2-3 2bb, run
Brady Vanek 1-5
Blaine Hardy 0-3 bb, run
– Ben Dornseif 1-1 run
Matt Casperson 1-5
Steves:
Charlie Kent 0-4 bb, run
Joe Tuholsky 1-4 rbi, run
– Carter Kent 0-0 bb
Cole Fuecker 1-5 3 rbi, run
Mat Meyer 2-5
– Nick Krippner 0-0
Jack Greenlun 0-2 bb, hp
Lucas Greenlun 1-4 rbi
Reid Lunser 0-3
– Josh Mohr 0-1
Thomas Ellis 1-3 bb, sb, run
Carter Ramsey 0-4 run
