WOODSTOCK — Right hander Greg Kaczmarek picked up his third win of the season with a 4-hit complete game gem against the Angels on Sunday at Emricson Park. The victory moved the Bats (5-4) into a second-place tie with the White Soxx who had dropped a 5-4 decision to the Marauders on Friday night. Both teams trail the Marauders (7-1) by 2 ½ games with six contests remaining.
The Bats staked Kaczmarek to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Earl Blankenship and Tom Paul played a little small ball to get the first run home. Blankenship led off with a sharp single to left and promptly stole second, continuing to third as the throw squirted into the outfield. Paul then chased Blankenship home with an RBI ground out to second base for a 1-0 lead.
John Eisenmenger walked and stole second and third before Matt Weiss walked to set up runners on the corners. A wild pitch brought Eisenmenger home to make it 2-0 as Weiss advanced to second. Rob Matassa brought in the third run of the inning with a 2-out RBI single to left for a 3-0 advantage.
The Angels wasted little time getting back in the game, however, as they answered with 2 runs of their own on a walk, a double, and two ground outs. After Bob Sommer coaxed the walk to lead off the second inning, John Amandes touched Kaczmarek for a line drive double over Mike Steffy’s head in left field, scoring Sommer. Amandes advanced to third on a ground out up the middle and scored on a ground out to second by Matt Iverson to make it 3-2.
In the bottom half of the frame Harry Mielke stroked a one-out double and came around to score on Blankenship’s 2-out double to push the Bats lead back up to 4-2. Kaczmarek and the Bats defense took over from there. The Angels got only 3 hits in the final five innings with the infield ending two of them with double plays. Kaczmarek struck out the side in the seventh inning to finish the game with 6 strikeouts.
The Bats tacked on another 3 runs in the fifth to give Kaczmarek more than enough support with a 7-2 lead. Paul reached on an error with one out followed by an Eisenmenger double. Weiss then singled to send Paul home and Matassa came through with another 2-out hit to right field driving home Eisenmenger and Weiss.
Defensively, besides turning a couple of double plays, the Bats infield accounted for 12 assists in their busiest game of the year. Second baseman Matassa was involved in both twin killings while recording 6 putouts with 5 assists. Eisenmenger had 5 assists with 2 putouts from the shortstop position.
The Bats next game is scheduled for 1:30 PM on Sunday, June 27 against the Lightning at Tiger’s Park in Johnsburg, Ill.
BATS DROPPINGS
Their 5-4 record after 9 games is the Bats best start after 9 games since 2010 when they were also 5-4. Their best 9-game start came in 2004 when they were 6-3 …. The 2010 Bats team also strung together the team’s longest winning streak, a 4-game surge that saw their record peak at 6-4 en route to a disappointing final mark of 7-11 …. The Bats continued their first-inning offensive success with 3 more runs on Sunday. They have now scored in 7 of their 9 opening frames for a total of 21 runs …. Their 3 doubles on Sunday gave the Bats 11 two-baggers in their last 3 games. Leading the 3-game assault is John Eisenmenger with 3 doubles, Earl Blankenship, Tom Klauba and Harry Mielke with 2 each, and Greg Kaczmarek and Matt Weiss with 1 apiece …. Earl Blankenship’s two hits marked his 5th time with a multi-hit game this season. He now has 25 career games with 2 or more hits in just his fourth season with the Bats …. The Bats have turned at least one double play in each of their last 5 games and have 8 DPs on the season.