Results from Peru for Tuesday, April 30th
Tigers walk off Squires for 7th straight win
After Mother Nature beat the Tigers 3 straight game days in a row, it took the Tiger Coaching staff and a volunteer or 2 to make sure they could make up Monday’s conference game vs Manchester on Tuesday, on a beautiful night for baseball.
The Tigers came in winners of 6 straight and tied for 1st place in the TRC with the Manchester Squires at 3-0.
Matthew Roettger, coming off a gem of a performance last week against Northfield, took the mound to start the game. He gave up a 2-out single but the runner was stranded. Squire Pitcher Martynowicz only required 8 pitches to retire the Tigers in order, to cap off the first inning.
Manchester got a lead-off double in the top of the 2nd and a 2-out walk put runners at 1st and 2nd, but they were stranded there. The Tigers struck first with a 2-out rally in the bottom half of the inning. Jackson Rogers reached on an infield single and was followed up with a double to right field by Bryce Hill, bringing Rogers around to tally the first Tiger run.
The Squires quickly answered in their half of the 3rd inning, with 3 singles and a walk driving in 2 runs to take the lead. The Tigers tied things up in the bottom half, a single by Gavin Eldridge, a walk by Reis Bellar, and a single by Jaxson Manriquez loaded the bases for Roettger. Roettger hit a ground ball to third resulting in an error being made on the play, allowing Eldrige to knot the game up at 2.
Manchester tacked on a 3rd run in the 4th on a single, a double, and a sac fly. The Tigers retook the lead in their half after Hill was hit by a pitch, Fox Huppenthal singled to right field, moving Hill to 3rd base. Huppenthal stole 2nd, and Hill came home to score on a wild pitch to tie things up with Huppenthal taking 3rd. Eldridge singled to 3rd scoring Huppenthal for the lead.
Manchester only had 1 base runner in the 5th after a hit batter. Manriquez singled to lead off the bottom of the 5th but was quickly erased by a double play. Rogers then singled and Hill reached on a error but the Tigers couldn’t push across an insurance run.
Manchester tied the game back up in the top of the 6th with a double and a single to push home the run. The Tigers only saw 11 pitches in the bottom half to go 3 up and 3 down.
Ian Potts came on in relief for the 7th inning and struck out the first 2 batters before giving up a single and retiring the next batter on a line out to Eldrige at shortstop. Bellar led off the Tiger’s half of the inning with a single, followed by a Manriquez single. Roettger popped out to 2nd baseman, Rogers reached on an infield single to load the bases with one out. Bellar was called out trying to steal home, but Manriquez and Rogers advanced bases. Down to the final strike Hill smacked a line drive to right field bringing in Manriquez as the winning run.
Potts picked up the win going 1 inning, allowing 1 hit and striking out 2. Roettger earned a no-decision, going 6 innings, allowing 4 earned runs on 9 hits, striking out 5 and walking 2.
The Tigers were led offensively by Rogers, Manriquez, Eldridge, and Hill who all had multiple hits in the contest.
The win improves the Tigers record to 9-2(4-0 TRC). They are back in action Wednesday May 1st at 6 pm at Tiger Field hosting the Wabash Apaches in a TRC showdown.
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Peru played against Maconaquah and North Miami at the Peru Muni on Tuesday. The Tigers were victorious with a team score of 200. Maconaquah was second with 203 and North Miami was third with 210. Ben Wynkoop was the low score for Peru with a round of 49. Other counting scores were Bryson Ragland and Maddox Bretzman each with 50 and Mason Camden with 51. The Tigers are now 6-1 on the season in dual matches.
Peru travels to Battle Ground on Saturday for the Lafayette Jeff Booster Invite. The tournament is scheduled to begin at 2:00.
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