Patrick Arnold
The Express opened the 2002 Central Valley League Playoffs this past Sunday by defeating the St. Augusta Gussies 10-0. This was the second time in a week’s span the Express downed the Gussies. This past Friday night, the Express traveled over to the immaculate Springer Park in Cold Spring to take on the Rockies in the last regular season CVL game of the season. The Express defeated the Rockies 6-0 to end the CVL regular season at 11-3 taking first place in the North Division. Tuesday night, Kimball headed east on Hwy 55 to take on the Class “B” Maple Lake Lakers and the Express pulled out a big win in Maple Lake, winning 8-6 against a great Maple Lake team.
On a hot, beautiful Sunday afternoon at the Willow Creek Park Baseball Field, the Kimball Express defeated the St. Augusta Gussies 10-0. They did it with the hot hitting of first baseman Joe Pennertz and left fielder Mike Arnold, along with a strong pitching effort from three Kimball pitchers as they combined to shutout the Gussies for the third time this season. Pat Arnold started on the mound and went 5 IP, 1H, BB, HBP, 0 R, picking up his fourth win of the season improving his record to 4-0. Kris Hagen came on in the sixth inning and went two innings, striking out one, allowing two hits, and giving up no runs. Hagen has thrown 11 straight innings without giving up a run. Joe Krippner came on in the eighth and ninth innings to finish it out for the Express, throwing shutout ball to wrap it up.
The Express offense has struggled against the Gussies this year scoring only five runs total in the first two meetings. They would jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, and later in the third inning, they would have a seven-run inning, and that would be all they needed as they got good pitching and played solid defense the rest of the way.
Joe Pennertz continued his hot hitting as he doubled in the first inning, driving in a run. Pennertz was 3-5 2B, HR, 2R, 3 RBI. He is 8-18 in his last four games with three doubles, two homeruns and seven RBI. Mike Arnold also had a day, going 3-4, scoring a run as well. Arnold is on a little hot streak of his own with five hits in his last two games. Brian Marqardt was 2-3 with a RBI.
The Express offense exploded in the third inning as Scott Marquardt got things rolling with a lead off walk. Pennertz drove him in as he blasted a two-run shot to left center, landing deep into Mrs. Berscheid’s yard. Mike Arnold singled, scoring on a Brian Marquardt single, Brooks Marquardt singled, and Nate Turck drove them both in hitting a two-run single. Pat Arnold walked. Turck scored on a Jeremy Kuechle single. Scott Marquardt hit a sac fly to center, scoring Arnold, tagging from third, giving the Express the 10-0 lead. The Express scored 10 runs on 12 hits and had one error.
The win gives the Express a 1-0 record in the CVL North Divisional Playoffs. They play next Sunday in Pearl Lake against the number three seed Lakers.
Kimball vs. Cold Spring
This past Friday evening, the Express found themselves on one of the prettiest diamonds in the state as they traveled to Cold Spring’s Springer Park to take on the Rockies in the final CVL regular season game of the 2002 season.
The Express came out on top behind another fine pitching performance from Justin Hill (2-0), who recently returned to his duties on the mound after coming off arm surgery last fall. Hill went all nine innings (IP 9, R 0, H 7, SO 6, BB 2), throwing the complete game shutout striking out six and walking two. He picked up his second win in as many starts. Hill cruised through most of the game, having trouble in the second and eighth innings, but he was able to get out of two bases-loaded jams to keep the shutout in tact. This was the third complete game shutout of the year for the Express pitching staff.
Kimball was lead offensively by Tom Marquardt and Joe Pennertz. Manager Tom Marquardt inserted himself in the lineup Friday night, playing third base due to the lack of infield depth as regular shortstop Jeremy Kuechle was unable to attend the game. Nate Turck would fill in by playing shortstop. For not having many at bats all season long ,the crafty veteran showed the young guys how it was done as he went 2-3 with three RBI. Joe Pennertz would go 2-5 with a crushing double and two RBI. Nate Turck continued his steady hitting, collecting two hits in three at bats, scoring two runs, and Mike Arnold was 2-4. A memory to go down in the books came in the fourth inning as Tom Marquardt was at the plate with sons Brian and Brooks on base. Tom scorched a single down the left field line, scoring both sons. Something like that just doesn’t happen every day.
The Express scored one in the second inning, two in the fourth, one in the fifth, and finished the game off strong in the nineth, plating two more, giving them the 6-0 win. The win gave the Express a final regular season league record of 11-3 and an overall record of 19-7.
Kimball vs. Maple Lake
Tuesday night, the Kimball town teamers were winners in exhibition action as they defeated the Maple Lake Lakers 8-6 on a beautiful night for baseball in Maple Lake. Joe Pennertz led the way offensively going 2-5 2B, run, 2 RBI. Brooks Marquardt was 2-4 with a run scored.
Kimball jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings of play, scoring three in the first inning and two in the second. The big hit was Joe Pennertz in the first inning, driving a double deep to the right center alley, driving in two Express runners.
Maple Lake came back in the third inning as they scored three off Express starter Pat Arnold. Arnold went only three innings as he was slated to start the game on Sunday against St. Augusta. The Express answered with two more in the fourth, giving them the 7-3 lead. Brandon Kuechle relieved Arnold in the fourth inning. The Lakers scored three more off Brandon in the fourth, making it 7-6 before Kuechle settled down and pitched three scoreless innings, striking out two. Joe Krippner relieved Kuechle in the eighth inning, and Joe went two innings, throwing shutout baseball. Krippner pitched into the ninth before Jeremy Kuechle came on to record the last out of the game and pick up the save. Brandon Kuechle pitched well enough to pick up his third win of the season. Brandon has been a steady right arm for the Express all season long, logging many innings during exhibition play.
The Express scored one more run in the seventh inning. Scott Marquardt led off with a walk. He stole second and later score on a Mike Arnold single to give the Express an 8-6 lead, which turned out to be the final score as Kimball stole one from an impressive Maple Lake ball club.
Upcoming Schedule
For round two of the double elimination CVL playoffs, Kimball will travel to Marty this Sunday to take on the Pearl Lake Lakers. Pearl Lake was a big winner this past weekend, beating the number two seed Luxemburg Brewers, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth inning. Game time Sunday is 2 p.m. in Marty. In other action this weekend, Luxemburg will take on the St. Augusta Gussies. The loser goes home for the season. The winner between Kimball and Pearl Lake earns a berth in the region 10C tournament. In the CVL south division winners bracket, the Watkins Clippers will face the Cold Spring Rockies. The Rockies were the only team to beat the Clippers in CVL play this year. Eden Valley will square off with St. Nicholas, and the loser of that game will be done for the season as well. Two teams from each division advance to the region tournament. It is a six-team region with four CVL teams and two teams from the Lakewood League East. Teams possibly coming out of the Lakewood East are the Sauk Rapids Cyclones, Clear Lake Lakers, Sauk Rapids Jimmy’s and the Becker Bandits. The region tourney will be held in Eden Valley this