TWO-BAGGER … Layne Vance rips one of his two doubles on the day in Evergreen’s 7-2 sectional win at Liberty Center. VIEW 133 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
LIBERTY CENTER (May 15, 2024) – Evergreen “Kannemized” the Tigers as Cory and Brady Kanneman pitched six scoreless innings after a shaky first, to wrap up a 7-2 win in a Division III Sectional tournament game at Liberty Center.
“I thought both of them pretty much threw ok,” said Viking coach Mark Cymbolin. “Strikes for the most part when we really needed them.”
“That’s what we want, we want our guys to throw strikes whether it’s a curve ball, fast ball, knuckle ball in whatever count, we have to throw strikes for us to be successful.”
“Minimal free bases, we probably had too many of those tonight (the Vikings walked five) but we made pitches to put a stop to innings. Brady has been our guy all year and when we brought him in, we knew what to expect.”
Layne Vance’s long double to center, a groundout and Blade Walker’s sacrifice fly put the Vikes ahead momentarily in the first, but the Tigers rebounded with a couple of breaks against Cory Kanneman in the bottom of the inning.
A walk, and Aiden Tallent’s first of four singles on the day put runners on first and third. One out later Landon Amstutz bunt was flipped wide of the plate to tie the game and Vance’s bobble on Zac Weaver’s double play grounder gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead that Amstutz held until the third.
That’s when the Vikes diminutive catcher Sean Rafferty began a personal assault of his own by leading off the third with a walk.
Rafferty then beat the throw to second on Vance’s grounder to third and Colton Robertson followed with a bunt single to load the sacks with no one down.
Blade Walker lashed a double down the left field line to score the tying and go-ahead runs and the fleet Robertson scored on a short wild pitch to make it 4-2.
The Vikings never looked back from that point. Rafferty started a two out rally an inning later with a line drive single to left center and scored on Vance’s second double of the game to push it to 5-2.
The Tigers rallied twice in the second and third, putting runners on second and third with one out each time.
Cory Kanneman got a pop up and fly ball to shut down the second and then blew away two straight hitters on strikes in the third to silence the Tigers threats.
Zander Zeiter’s single and then Landon Smith’s pop fly that fell for a hit ended the day for Cory Kanneman in the fifth, but Brady Kanneman came on to shut down that rally with a pair of Ks and fly to center.
Evergreen tallied again in the sixth and again Rafferty was in the middle of the score. Hunter Vaculik reached on an error and advanced to third on a wild pitch and John Herdman’s bunt before scoring on Rafferty’s sacrifice fly.
“Those guys at the bottom did a job especially Raff,” Cymbolin explained. “They either set it up for the top by getting on base or finishing some ABC baseball getting a guy home from third with less than two out.”
“We got some good swings today which we didn’t get in our last couple of games against Ottawa Hills and St. Francis. If those guys can get on and get to the guys on top that can swing it that helps us out a lot.”
One last time there was a Tiger threat and one last time the Vikes muzzled the rally in the sixth.
Tallant and Brooks Behnfeldt singled to start the inning but a Vance to Vaculik to Walker double play zipped up that uprising.
Brady Kanneman’s single turned into an insurance run in the seventh when pinch runner Ryder Hudik stole second and third, then scored on a wild pitch for the final Viking tally.
Cory Kanneman got the win allowing one earned run in four innings. Brady Kanneman got the three inning save giving up two hits and striking out four.
Amstutz took the loss as the Vikings got six hits and five earned runs in four innings.
EVERGREEN 103 101 1 – 7 7 3
L. CENTER 200 000 0 – 2 9 2
Records: Evergreen 11-10, L. Center 10-9
WINNING PITCHER: C. Kanneman (4 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 4 strikeouts, 4 walks) OTHER: B. Kanneman
LOSING PITCHER: Amstutz (4 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs, 3 strikeouts, 1 walk) OTHER: Zeiter
LEADING HITTERS: (Evergreen) Vance – 2 doubles, 2 runs, 1 RBI; Bolger – double; Walker – single, 3 RBIs; (LC) A. Tallent – 4 singles; Z. Weaver – doubles, RBI
