The Opole Bears won their 3rd straight with an exciting come-from-behind, walk-off win over the Randall Cubs on Sunday. Trailing 4-2 entering the 9th, the Cubs scored 3 times to grab a 5-4 lead, only to have the Bears come back and score 2, including a squeeze bunt by Mavrick Novitski to win the game 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th.
After a scoreless 1st inning, Randall scored in the top of the 2nd wen Alec Zack took a lead-off walk, then Alex Gwost sacrificed and the throw from pitcher Drew Lange to 1st was overthrown for an error, putting runners at 2nd and 3rd. Zack then scored on the 2nd Bears error of the inning after Opole botched a rundown allowing Zack to score and make it 1-0.
The Bears tied things up in the bottom of the 2nd when Tate Lange led off with a double, follow2ed by a Masyn Patrick single. A throwing error then allowed Lange to score and the game was tied 1-1 after 2 innings.
Opole took their first lead in the bottom of the 5th when Dominic Hoikka led off with an infield single, , then Alex Lange singled with 2 outs. Luke Bieniek then ripped an rbi single past 3rd to bring home Hoikka to make it 2-1.
Opole added 2 more in the 6th when both Tate Lange and Masyn Patrick singled, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Mavrick Novitski. After Cubs starter Adam Nibaur fanned Dominic Hoikka for the 2nd out, he got Drew Lange to ground to short, but instead of ending the inning, an errant throw allowed both Tate Lange and Masyn Patrick to score and make it 4-1 after 6 innings.
In the top of the 7th, Randall got a lead-off double by Garrett Lindberg, then a 1-out rbi single from Zack Gwost to make it 4-2. That hit ended the day on the mound for Opole’s Drew Lange, who gave way to David Heinen. Heinen got a pair of ground outs to end the inning.
After a scoreless 8th inning, Randall came up in the top of the 9th and got a pinch-hit lead-off walk by Carter Gwost. Garrett Lindberg then bounced into a fielders choice, retiring Gwost. Nate Benning then took a walk from David Heinen to put runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Zack Gwost then sliced an rbi double into the left field corner to score Lindberg and make it 4-3 with runners at 2nd and 3rd and still just 1 out. Matt Otremba then blasted a go-ahead 2-run double to the gap in left-center and suddenly Randall was ahead 5-4 heading to the bottom of the 9th.
Alex Lange led off the bottom of the 9th with his 4th hit of the game, a single to right field. Luke Bieniek then bunted and pushed it just out of the reach of pitcher Adam Nibaur and by the time Nibaur retrieved the ball near the infield grass, Bieniek was safe at 1st. At that point, Randall brought in Zack Gwost to pitch in place of Adam Nibaur. That brought up Keaton Gustin, who is rarely asked to bunt, but in this case, he put down a bunt that bounced off of home plate and sailed about 15 feet in the air in front of home plate and Gustin beat it out to load the bases with no outs. Tate Lange was up next for the Bears and Gwost hit him with a pitch to force in Alex Lange with the tying run, making it 5-5. After Gwost struck out Masyn Patrick for the 1st out of the inning, Mavrick Novitski stepped to the plate and he laid down the Bears 3rd bunt of the inning, a squeeze bunt that allowed Luke Bieniek to score from 3rd before the throw to the plate could record the out and giving Opole the 6-5 walk-off win.
Randall 5 9 2 – 5
Opole 6 14 2 – 6
WP: David Heinen 2.2IP 3 runs 2 hits 1k 2bb
Drew Lange 6.1IP 2 runs 7 hits 8k 3bb
LP: Adam Nibaur 8+IP 6 runs 13 hits 6k 2bb
Zack Gwost 0.1IP 0 runs 1 hit 1k 0bb 1hp
Bears:
Drew Lange 1-5 sb
Brodi Huls 0-4 bb
Alex Lange 4-4 2B, bb, run
Luke Bieniek 2-5 rbi, run
Keaton Gustin 1-5
– Isaiah Folsom 0-0
Tate Lange 2-4 2B, hp, rbi, 2 runs
Masyn Patrick 3-5 2 sb, run
– Will Eichten 0-0
Mavrick Novitski 0-3 2 sac, rbi
– Jordan Schmitz
– David Heinen
Dominic Hoikka 1-4 run
Cubs:
Nate Benning 0-4 bb, run
Zack Gwost 3-5 2B, 2 rbi, run
Matt Otremba 2-5 2B, 2 rbi
Rick Drew 0-4 bb
Brett Strack 1-5
Alec Zack 1-2 2bb, run
Alex Gwost 0-3 sac
Adam Nibaur 1-3
– Carter Gwost 0-0 bb
Garrett Lindberg 1-4 2B, 2 runs