Spooner 12 Haugen 11 (10 innings)

Spooner hosted the Haugen Knights on Saturday night of Rodeo Weekend and came away with a nail biting 12-11 win in 10 innings. The game was far from clean for the Cardinals as they squandered multiple leads but managed to out hit the Knights to hand them their sixth loss on the season. The Cardinals built a 4-1 lead after the first inning, which was highlighted by a two-run home run down the left field line by Sam Holden. Spooner added a pair of runs in the second inning and the lead was 6-1 after two complete. Haugen added a pair of runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 6-3 and then tied the game in the seventh inning. Jeremy Bloomquist pitched the first six innings and Evan Potaczek pitched three innings of relief through the ninth. Spooner added a run in the seventh inning to re-take the lead at 7-6 but Haugen pushed a run across the plate in the eighth to tie the game. Spooner scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning after Haugen elected to make a pitching change after the Cardinals had taken a 9-7 lead. With the game seemingly in hand at 11-7, Spooner needed just three outs to secure the win. Unfortunately, the Knights used a couple timely hits and several walks to tie the game and leave the go-ahead run on third base. Spooner had a golden opportunity to win the game in the ninth inning, when Sam Holden hit a deep fly ball to right field with runners on first and second to allow the runner to advance to third base. Narrowly missing a walk off home run by a step or two. Haugen intentionally walked the next batter to load the bases in a questionable move, given their pitcher’s control issues. Zach Rombach hit a towering fly ball to centerfield, which was about mid range into the outfield. The Spooner run tagged up at third but the Haugen outfielder made a perfect throw home and their catcher applied a tag in a very close play at home plate to end the inning still tied at 11-11. Spooner was completely dejected by the play but regrouped to keep the Knights off the bases in the tenth inning and set the stage for the bottom of the tenth. Trevor Brimblecom led off the 10^th inning with a hit by pitch to the lower leg. Jackson Lucius pinch ran for Brimblecom and stole second base on a 2-0 count. Trayden Wilson was at the plate with the bunt sign but was walked on four straight pitches. Another walk followed to Cody Patko. Josh Davidson singled to left field and Lucius scored the winning run and finally end the game.

Spooner 1 Brill 10

            Approximately 12 hours after a long game the night prior Spooner was back in action against the Brill Millers for their third matchup of the season. The teams split the first two games. Things started off impressively for the Cardinals as Josh Davidson smashed a lead off home run to left field to take a quick 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, Spooner would not get their second hit until the eighth inning and only manage another hit in the ninth. Brill brought in a “junk-baller” for the game, as they have now seen Spooner struggle to hit slow off speed pitches in the first two meetings. Jesse Morales was efficient for the first two innings as the Millers went down quietly. Brill scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead and the Cardinals never regained their energy as the Millers continued to add runs later in the game to take the game 10-1.

The Cardinals (6-7, 5-4 Indy) return home to face the Haugen Knights again on Friday July 18^th at 7:30 pm. Spooner also travels to Cumberland on Sunday for a 1:00 game against the Islanders. Spooner has just three league games remaining over the final two weeks, while everyone else has four to seven games remaining.

Indy League scores:

Hayward 5-3 over Haugen (Fri)

Hayward 4-1 over Cumberland (Sat)

Cumberland 8-1 over Hayward (Sat)