Wentz tosses Century past Magi
By CHRIS BIERI, Staff Writer cbieri@minotdailynews.com
POSTED: May 16, 2008
Article Photos
Minot knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth, but left the bases loaded. In the top half of the fifth, Century blasted back for a 7-2 win Thursday at Corbett Field. Minot won the nonconference nightcap 3-0.
Wentz went 62/3 innings to get the win, allowing just three Minot hits.
Pats co-coach Kent Schweigert said having Wentz on the mound gave the Patriots a lot of confidence.
“There is no doubt, he wants the ball in a big game,” Schweigert said. “All the kids like to see him out there, too. It picks everyone up.”
Thursday it was the others that picked Wentz up.
Following a fourth inning when Wentz walked three batters and gave up a double, the Century bats got to Minot starter Ryan Bollinger.
Taylor Isakson led off with a single and moved to second when Bollinger hit Brady Wolf with a pitch. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Wentz was intentionally walked. Century’s Hunter Johnson broke the 2-2 tie with a bases-clearing double to straightaway center field. Speedy Nate Schlosser followed with a double of his own that plated Johnson.
“That was big,” Wentz said. “Minimizing the damage with the bases loaded and we came out the next inning and got a bunch of runs. It let me attack the hitters more and the defense made some plays.”
Neither team was extremely sharp on defense as Minot’s first run was unearned as were both of Century’s first two scores.
“We’ve always said, we don’t have to make the outstanding plays, we have to make the routine plays,” MHS head coach Pete Stenberg said.
Bollinger, the Magicians’ ace, struggled to find the strike zone at times early.
“Ryan wasn’t on the whole game,” Stenberg said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled through it.”
Century scored two in the top of the third with the help of a pair of Minot errors. The Magi bounced back with one in the bottom half of that inning. Ryne reached on an error, moved all the way to third on Creighton Bachmeier’s sacrifice bunt and scored on an error on Josh Oothoudt’s grounder to the right side.
Minot’s rally in the fourth included three walks and a double down the right-field line by Kris Winkels. Wentz struck out the first two batters of the inning and got Oothoudt to foul out to first base with the bases juiced.
Dane Towery tossed five shutout innings for the Magi in the second game. Eric Merck and Brett Fiddler produced RBI hits and Zac Elgie smashed a home run to left field.
The conference loss put the Magicians out of the running for a second-place finish in the West Region, but they still have a shot at third.
They travel to Beulah-Hazen today at 5 p.m. CST for the final doubleheader of the regular season.
