Lansing Lugnuts at Michigan Battle Cats
April 23rd, 2002
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E-Mote, LOB LAN-4, MIC-5, 2B-Shelf, SB-Rodriguez, Hodges, CS-Bouras
SO-Johnson 2, Slavik, Mallory, Miliano, Rodriguez, Lentini, Conrad, Shelf, Checksfield, Mote 2, Stegall, Hodges, Obradovich, BB-Theriot, Slavik, Rodriguez, Obradovich
T-1:58, A-605
Lansing State Journal
The Lansing Lugnuts fell to the Michigan Battle Cats 1-0 on Tuesday in Battle Creek
Lugnuts starting pitcher Sergio Mitre (1-2) faced one over the minimum through five innings and took the loss despite allowing just three hits in six innings.
Michigan (15-6) scored the lone run in the sixth. Mike Rodriguez scored on an RBI single by Fehlandt Lentini.
Lansing (9-9) had an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the ninth. With Ronny Cedeno on first and two outs, Brad Bouras hit a grounder to third, Michigan third baseman Trevor Mote threw the ball past first baseman Steve Checksfield, but Bouras tried to go to second and was tagged out to end the ballgame.
Battle Creek Enquirer
by Howie Magner
He may not have cured Michigan's offensive woes, but at least Monte Mansfield provided a booster shot.
Mansfield pitched seven brilliant innings of two hit baseball and handcuffed Lansing enough for Michigan to steal a 1-0 win Tuesday night at C.O. Brown Stadium.
Cats hitters struggled for the third straight game, collecting only four hits after back to back one hit outings. But the lineup game Mansfield a run to work with in the sixth inning, then he and reliever Greg Powell turned it into Michigan's first win in three games.
"The team's struggling at the plate, but there have been plenty of times when we've struggled on the hill they picked us up." said Mansfield, who is 1-1 after the win, which also included two walks and five strikeouts, "So that's what good teams do. When they struggle in one category they pick it up the other way."
Mansfield knows. He got his own pickup in the fourth inning when centerfielder Mike Rodriguez preserved the shutout with a catch worthy of ESPN.
Mansfield faced runners at first and second when Lansing led off the inning with a walk and a seeing eye single. His strikeout of J.J. Johnson provided some damage control, but Brad Bouras followed with a deep drive to center that was ticketed for extra bases.
Rodriguez sure the ticket didn't get punched, finished off a cross country run with a full extention dive that used every scrap of his glove's leather to make the catch.
"That's how this team is. We pick each other up." Rodriuez said, "I got a good jump on the ball and was able to save some runs, which helped him out. Some days we'll back him up and he'll back us up."
Mansfield finished off the inning with a strikeout, then waited outside of the dugout to personally thank Rodriguez for the effort. He'd than the centerfielder later when he scored the lone run for Michigan, which is 13-6 and still leads the Midwest League's Eastern Division.
Lansing shortstop Ronny Cedeno and left fielder Hector Miliano helped Rodriguez reach first with two outs in the sixth when they let his popup drop inbetween them. Rodriguez then stole second and raced home on Fehlandt Lentini's sharp single up the middle off Lugnuts starter Sergio Mitre (1-2).
"That's the way this game is," Rodriguez said, "Early in the season I was hitting some balls hard right at people. Then you find a hole once in awhile and today it's the winning run."
Powell's fourth save of the year made sure it would stay that way, though not without a little ninth inning excitement. Cedeno game the 9-9 Lugnuts life with a one out single that looked like it might be a problem when with two outs, Bouras hit a sharp grounder to Trevor Mote at third.
Mote fielded the ball fine, but his throw to first was in the dirt and got past Steve Checksfield, allowing Cedeno to get to third. But Bouras made the mistake of going for second base and Checksfield, who kept his head in the play by quickly tracking down the overthrow, threw Bouras out to end the game.