Errors Costly in 10-9 VCA Loss to La Lumiere

LaPorte, IN - The Victory Christian Academy Lions lost to the La Lumiere Lakers 10-9 Tuesday night in a contest that had five lead changes.  In the end, the Lakers took advantage of five Lion errors to hold on for the win.

Austin Thomas (0-1) went the distance in the loss, giving up seven hits and ten runs - five earned.  He walked three and struck out eight.  Three Lakers' pitchers combined to give up nine runs - all earned - on four hits, 14 walks and four strikeouts.  Zach Wisniewski (1-0) earned the win for the Lakers.

The Lions (1-1) could not get anything going in the first two innings, while the Lakers (1-0) jumped out to a 2-0 lead.  Matt Jelinek knocked in Benz Culbertson with a triple in the first and later scored on a passed ball.  Drew Luther hit a line shot right back at Thomas, knocking his glove off, but Thomas was able to recover the ball and retire Luther to end the inning.

The Lions bounced back scoring three runs in the third.  Nick Schrader provided the power with a two run triple scoring Justin Reisinger and Jon Walker.

Three errors on consecutive batters committed by the Lions opened the door wide, allowing the Lakers to score four runs in the bottom half of the third inning and to take a 6-3 lead.

Each team gave up two runs each over the fourth and fifth frames leaving the tally at 8-5 Lakers heading into the sixth inning.

The Lions were finally able to take advantage of the Lakers pitching wildness and two fielding miscues, scoring four runs taking a 9-8 lead into the bottom half of the sixth.  Thomas, Reisinger and Walker all had single RBI's in the frame.

If anything, the Lakers showed their resilience by scoring a single run in their half of the sixth, and then holding the Lions scoreless in the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh, a one out single by Luther and a stolen base set the table for Mike Spaeth's grounder that eluded both Walker and Justin Reisinger, allowing Luther to score the winning run for the Lakers.

Justin Reisinger also tripled for the Lions, while the Lakers Marty Mahoney contributed two doubles in the winning effort.

VCA Lions (9) at La Lumiere Lakers (10)

VCA              AB  R  H BI SO BB   La Lumiere      AB  R  H BI SO BB
C Reisinger cf    5  2  0  0  0  2   Culbertson cf    4  2  1  1  1  1
Thomas p          4  1  1  1  0  0   Jelinek p-1b-ss  4  2  1  1  1  0
J Reisinger ss-p  4  2  2  2  0  2   Wisniewski ss-p  4  1  1  1  0  1
Walker 3b         4  1  0  1  0  1   Mahoney 3b       4  2  2  0  1  0
Guess rf          4  0  0  0  0  1   Tang 1b-p-1b     4  0  0  1  1  0
N Schrader 2b     4  0  1  2  0  0   Luther c         4  1  1  1  0  0
L Schrader dh     4  0  0  0  1  3   Spaeth lf        4  0  0  0  2  0
Smith 1b          4  2  0  0  1  3   Kobe rf          1  0  0  0  1  0
Price lf          4  1  0  0  2  2    Tucker rf       1  0  0  0  1  0
                                      Friedman rf     1  0  1  0  0  0
                                      Schrauben pr-rf 0  1  0  0  0  0
                                     Price 2b         3  1  0  0  0  1
Totals           37  9  4  6  4 14                   34 10  7  5  8  3

VCA          0 0 3 2 0 4 0 -  9
La Lumiere   2 0 4 1 1 1 1 - 10

2b - Mahoney 2
3b - JReisinger, NSchrader, Jelinek
HR - 
LOB - VCA 7, La Lumiere 5
SB - CReisinger 2, JReisinger 2, Smith, Culbertson 2, Wisniewski 2,
     Mahoney, Luther, Schrauben, Price 2
E - JReisinger, Walker, Smith 2, Lange 2
PB -  Lange 4, Luther 3

VCA                  IP  H  R ER BB SO HR  PC-ST
Thomas     (L, 0-1) 6.1  7 10  5  3  8  0 133-83

La Lumiere           IP  H  R ER BB SO HR  PC-ST
Jelinek             2.1  1  3  3  7  1  0  50-14
Tang                3.0  2  3  3  6  1  0  58-25
Wisniewski (W, 1-0) 1.2  1  3  3  1  2  0  40-21

HBP -