Fort Wayne Wizards at Michigan Battle Cats
April 11th, 2002
| Fort Wayne |
|
|
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
1 |
3 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
7 |
12 |
1 |
| Michigan |
|
|
7 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
0 |
4 |
X |
|
|
12 |
4 |
3 |
E-Knott, Checksfield 2, Mote, LOB FW-10, MIC-8, 2B-McCool, Benick 2, Checksfield, HR-Trzesniak (Pluta), SB-Lentini, CS-Checksfield, HBP-Trzesniak, SACF-Stegall
HB-Houlton, WP-Pluta, SO-Barfield, Hastings 2, Knott, Ervin 2, Obradovich, Checksfield, Stegall, Mote 2, BB-Barfield, Ervin, Serrano, Rodriguez, Conrad, Obradovich 2, Checksfield 2, Stegall
T-2:57, A-1,021
Battle Creek Enquirer
by Howie Magner
They played their 1,000th game, and for awhile, it looked like they'd score 1,000 runs.
Michigan opened its millennium outing with a seven run first inning and added four more runs in the eighth frame to fuel a 12-7 lead over Fort Wayne at C.O. Brown Stadium Thursday night.
Michigan's sixth consecutive victory not only left the Cats two wins shy of tying the franchise's longest winning streak, but it also snapper Fort Wayne's six game string of success. Both teams are no tied atop the Midwest League Eastern Division standings with a 6-2 record.
Fort Wayne's run of wins wasn't the only streak snapped, much to the relief of Michigan's Fehlandt Lentini. The Battle Cats outfielder ended a 1 for 22 skid at the plate by going 4 for 5 with three RBIs, leaving him with a permanent smile.
"It's good to get that off my back," said Lentini, who struggled through spring training with a pulled quad muscle and collected his only previous hit Wednesday night on a swinging bunt, "It's always good to come out and see the hits fall."
As a team Michigan saw 14 of them fall, four of which came in the big first inning. All seven Michigan runs were charged to Fort Wayne starter Jon Huber, who recorded only on eout before Jack Cassel relieved him.
Huber (1-1) didn't exactly help himself by walking the first three batters he faced. He finally started throwing strikes to Cats cleanup hitter Todd Shelf, only to see the Michigan first baseman rap a n 0-2 pitch into right field for an RBI single.
Steve Checksfiled followed with a bases loaded walk, then Lentini notched the first of his three RBIs with a single to right.
"It was nice to see him start to swing the bat like I knew he was capable of." Michigan manager John Massarelli said of Lentini. "Most guys in spring training got 35 or 40 at bats. He got about 10 in spring training, so he had to get 25 here to get it going."
Ryan Stegall's run scoring fielder's choice and another RBI single by Trevor Mote finally drove Huber from the mound. Cassel finally shut things down, but not before Michigan plated two more runs, the last one coming on a single by Mike Rodriguez in his second at bat of the inning.
Cassel held Michigan's offense scoreless over the next four innings. In the meantime, Fort Wayne started to chip away the 7-0 lead, a trent helped along by three Michigan errors.
Nick Trzesniak put the Wizards on the board with his second inning two run homer off Michigan starter Anthony Pluta. Fort Wayne also scored a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to cut the lead to 7-6.
But D.J. Houlton relieved Pluta with one out in the fifth and squelched the Fort Wayne rally. He'd pitch two more scoreless innings to collect the victory and Greg Powell tossed the final two frames for his second save of the season.