Hill pitches and hits his way to victory Justin Hill pitched six masterful innings and drove in the only two runs for a Kimball victory in exhibition action this past Wednesday night as the Express triumphed at Saints Field in Dassel, 2-1. The Express offense capitalized on their only big threat of the evening when they loaded the bases in the seventh inning. The team was trailing 1-0 when Joe Pennertz reached base on an error. Mike Arnold singled to left and Kris Hagen reached on an error to load the bases for pitcher Justin Hill. Manager Tom Marquardt let Hill know he was making the switch for the start of the seventh inning, but he was going to let Hill hit if his turn in the order came around. Sure enough, the opportunity presented itself. The Express had to get ahead in this inning in order to notch the second win of the year. (Talk about clutch hitting.) With the bases loaded, Hill delivered on a 2-2 pitch scorching a single up the middle making pitcher Jon Riewer dance on the mound as the ball flew by. Pennertz and Arnold scored which gave the Express the lead and the win. Joe Krippner came on in relief of Hill and pitched with pinpoint control for the final three innings. This was Krippner’s first outing of the season and he was given the daunting task of holding a great hitting ball club scoreless the final three innings. Krippner more than delivered. The crafty lefty came in and held a one run lead against a top notch class B Saints club, allowing only one hit in his three innings of work to pick up the save. Welcome to the 2003 season Joe. Kimball only mustered 5 hits; Mike Arnold had a great night at the plate going 4-4 with a run scored to lead the Express offense. Hill was 1-3 with two RBIs. A highlight for the Saints was that veteran left-hander Jon Riewer threw a complete game five-hitter with 13 strikeouts. Pennertz leads the Express through Litchfield Pennertz was 3-4 with four RBIs and Scott Marquardt added three hits as the Kimball Express (4-0 overall) beat the Litchfield Blues 8-2 in a Central Valley League game at Optimist Park on Friday. Pat Arnold (1-0) was the winning pitcher, striking out five in seven innings. This was Arnold’s first start of the season. Joe Krippner came on in the eighth inning and kept the Blues in check. Jeremy Kuechle finished the game pitching a scoreless ninth. Kuechle made his first appearance of the season. News and notes The Express came into the Litchfield game with only nine players and no manager. Three players were playing positions in the field where they were not the most comfortable but stepped up and played beautifully. (Express manager Tom Marquardt was in Omaha, Neb., watching his son Brooks play for Dakota State (Madison, S.D.) in the NAIA Super Regionals baseball tourney). Brian Marquardt is playing with the Ridgewater Warriors in the NJCAA Junior College World Series in New York. The Marquardts and Nate Turck, a junior shortstop playing at Valley City State, should all be back with the Express sometime this week. The Express will travel to Cold Spring to take on the Rockies in CVL action at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20. The Express will be in Maple Lake at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, doing battle with the Lakers in exhibition action. The Express have the Memorial Day weekend off.
