The Pierz Lakers kept their high-powered offense rolling with a 19-7 win in 7 innings over the St. Wendel Saints on Sunday at Hellie Field. The Lakers belted 4 Home Runs and Noah Cekalla had the biggest day of anyone, going 4-4 with 1 Grand Slam, a double, a pair if single including a 2-run knock and a walk to drive in 6 runs and score 4 times himself. Ryan Chmielewski took over from starter Carter Petron in the top of the 2nd and went the rest of the way, recording 10 strikeouts to get the Win. The Lakers have now scored in double figures in 5 straight games and own a 1 game lead in the C Division with 1 game left to play in the regular season. The Lakers are now 9-1 while the Opole Bears, St. Wendel Saints and Pierz Brewers are all 8-2. The win over the Saints didn’t clinch the title outright, but the Lakers can do that next Sunday when they close out the regular season at St. Mathias.
Technically, it was a come-from-behind win for the Lakers because St. Wendel got off to a strong start in the top of the 1st when Tyler Huls started the game with a single up the middle off Pierz starter Carter Petron. Huls stole 2nd, then Petron got Logan Harren to pop up to 2nd for the 1st out. Austin Dickmann then singled, moving Huls to 3rd with 1 out. Dickmann was then lifted for pinch-runner Will Ethen at 1st base. Brandon Dickmann then put down a bunt that resulted in Huls coming in to score and Dickmann safe at 1st with a single. A walk t Jake Ethen loaded the bases, then Petron struck out Tanner Tomasek. But Tanner Reis singled up the middle to drive in Will Ethen to give the Saints a 2-0 lead before Petron got Aiden Micholski to fly out to center fielder Chase Becker to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
With Aiden Micholski getting the start on the mound for St. Wendel, Chase Becker belted a lead-off Homer inside the right field foul pole on the 2nd pitch he saw to make it 2-1. Noah Cekalla the doubled to left-center and went to 3rd on an errant pick off attempt. Preston Rocheleau then got hit by a Micholski pitch to put runners at the corners. Brady Petron then walked to load the bases, followed by a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Chmielewski to score Cekalla and make it 2-2. Carter Petron added a sacrifice fly scoring Rocheleau, Brady Petron scored on a throwing error from catcher Logan Harren, followed by a walk to Ryan Diers. Kamden Happke hit into a fielders choice to drive in Chmielewski and give the Lakers a 5-2 lead after 1 inning.
After throwing 30 pitches in the top of the 1st, Carter Petron got through the top of the 2nd on just 6 pitches in a 1-2-3 inning.
St. Wendel brought in Jake Ethen to pitch the bottom of the 2nd and he started with a walk to Chase Becker and a single to Noah Cekalla. After a sacrifice bunt by Preston Rocheleau, Brady Petron unloaded for a 3-run Homer to make it 8-2, and Ryan Chmielewski then went back-to-back with a bomb of his own and the Lakers led 9-2 after 2 innings.
St. Wendel got their bats going again in the top of the 3rd when Will Ethen led off with a double, followed by a Brandon Dickmann single. After Jake Ethen lined out to 1st baseman Ryan Diers, Tanner Tomasek walked to load the bases and Tanner Reis then delivered his 2nd run-scoring single of the game to drive in Ethen and make it 9-3. That hit also spelled the end of the day on the mound for Carter Petron, who was lifted in favor of Ryan Chmielewski. Jacob Worlie lined an rbi single to left to score Brandon Dickmann to make it 9-4, then Rolando Ramos cracked a 2-run single, plating both Tomasek and Reis to make it 9-6.
In the bottom of the 3rd, the Saints made another pitching change, bringing in Rolando Ramos. Ramos got Kamden Happke to fly out to center but then walked Kolten Happke. Chase Becker then popped up to catcher Logan Harren for the 2nd out, but Ramos walked Noah Cekalla. Preston Rocheleau then hit a deep fly ball to center that fell in for a double, scoring both Happke and Cekalla to make it 11-6. Brady Petron then punched an rbi single to score Rocheleau and the Lakers lead had grown to 12-6 after 3 innings.
Brandon Dickmann ripped a line-drive Home Run to left off Ryan Chmielewski to start the top of the 4th to make it 12-7 but Chmielewski then struck out Jake Ethen, Tanner Tomasek and Tanner Reis to end the inning.
The Lakers then had another multi-run inning in the bottom of the 4th, getting a lead off single from Carter Petron, a walk to Ryan Diers and a sacrifice bunt by Kamden Happke. Kolten Happke then singled to drive in Petron to make it 13-7, and after a ground out to 2nd by Chase Becker, Noah Cekalla ripped a 2-run single, scoring Diers and Happke to put Pierz ahead 15-7 after 4 innings.
In the top of the 5th, Ryan Chmielewski made it 6 consecutive strikeouts and 7 out of the last 8 batters when he fanned Jacob Worlie, Rolando Ramos and Tyler Huls in order.
The Saints turned things over to Pete Schumer to pitch the bottom of the 5th, and he allowed a single to Brady Petron, but then got a 5-4-3 double play and a fly out to left to keep the Lakers off the scoreboard for the 1st time in the game.
In the top of the 6th, Chmielewski got a groundout to 2nd and a strikeout. He then struck out Brandon Dickmann but Dickmann reached safely when the 3rd strike throw to 1st went wide for an error. Dickmann was then pinch-run for by Chase Lyon. Chmielewski the picked of Lyon to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 6th, Pete Schumer gave up a 1-out double to right by Kamden Happke, then hit Kolten Happke with a pitch. Chase Becker then singled to fill the bases for Noah Cekalla, who jumped on the 1st pitch he saw from Schumer and hit a laser over the wall in left for a Grand Slam Home Run to make it 19-7.
Ryan Chmielewski then worked a 1-2-3 top of the 7th, including his 10th strikeout, to end the game with the Lakers winning 19-7.
St. Wendel 7 11 2 – 7 7 innings
Pierz Lakers 19 14 1 – 19
WP: Ryan Chmielewski 5.2IP 1 run 4 hits 10k 0bb
Carter Petron 1.1IP 6 runs 7 hits 1k 2bb
LP: Aiden Micholski 1.0IP 5 runs 2 hits 0k 3bb 1hp
Jake Ethen 1.0IP 4 runs 3 hits 0k 1bb
Rolando Ramos 2.0IP 6 runs 5 hits 0k 3bb
Pete Schumer 2.0IP 4 runs 4 hits 1k 1bb
Lakers:
Chase Becker 2-4 Hr, bb, rbi, 3 runs
Noah Cekalla 4-4 Hr, 2B, bb, 6 rbi, 4 runs
Preston Rocheleau 1-3 2B, sac, hp, 2 rbi, 2 runs
Brady Petron 3-4 Hr, bb, 4 rbi, 2 runs
Ryan Chmielewski 1-3 Hr, bb, sb, 2 rbi, 2 runs
Carter Petron 1-3 sac fly, rbi, run
Ryan Diers 0-2 2bb, run
Kamden Happke 1-3 2B, sac, rbi, run
Kolten Happke 1-2 bb, hp, rbi, 2 runs
– Dan Rocheleau 0-0
Saints:
Tyler Huls 1-4 sb, run
– Pete Schumer 0-0
Logan Harren 1-4
Austin Dickmann 1-1
– Carter Voss
– Will Ethen 1-3 2B, 2 runs
Brandon Dickmann 3-4 Hr, 2 rbi, 2 runs
– Chase Lyon 0-0
Jake Ethen 0-3 bb
Tanner Tomasek 0-3 bb, run
Tanner Reis 2-4 2 rbi, run
Aiden Micholski 0-1
– Jacob Worlie 1-2 rbi
Rolando Ramos 1-3 2 rbi