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Minster's Chase Couse drops a bunt during Tuesday's MAC baseball game against Parkway in Minster.
MINSTER - Mike Wiss had to shake his head a little after his Minster baseball team turned a 5-4-3 double play to end its game with Parkway.
That was about the only thing about the game that was routine.
The Wildcats blew a 5-0 lead, walked 11 Parkway batters and trailed 9-8 going to the bottom of the sixth before scoring six runs and coming away with a 14-9 Midwest Athletic Conference win on Tuesday in Minster.
Both teams had their struggles: Minster with its 11 walks and one hit batsmen among five different pitchers, and Parkway committing eight errors resulting in eight unearned runs.
"I told Neil (Parkway coach Neil Schaffner) every time Minster scored, Parkway answered. And when Parkway scored, Minster answered," said the Minster coach, whose squad improved to 6-1 and 2-0 in the MAC. "There's not many zeros out there (on the scoreboard)."
"I do commend our guys for bouncing back and competing up until that last inning when everything got unraveled," said Schaffner as his team goes to 6-3 and 0-2 in the MAC. "We started playing a little timid instead of attacking the baseball."
Minster looked ready to put the game out of reach in the second inning in sending nine batters to the plate and scoring five times. Ian Homan, en route to one of his best days at the plate, tripled in two runs, Dylan Heitkamp singled home another and Tyler Stueve brought in a run on a sacrifice fly.
Minster starting pitcher James Niemeyer retired the first seven batters he faced before walking Jackson Kraner and Fletcher Smith back-to-back in the third. Caiden Berry singled home Kraner and Devon Crouch brought home another run on a single while keeping the bases loaded for Roman Leszinske, who drew a walk for an RBI to make it 5-3.
Minster added a run in the bottom of the third, but in the fourth Niemeyer walked a runner and then gave up a Kraner RBI single to make it 6-4. Wiss brought on Brandon Lickteig, but Lickteig walked three straight batters, the third bringing home a run, and Wiss made another pitching change. Connor Schmiesing gave up another run to make it 6-6 before getting the final out of the inning.
Parkway took its first lead in the fifth when Schmiesing walked the bases loaded again and brought home another run when Berry walked. Tyler Stueve came on and got the final out, but Parkway was now up 7-6.
Just as quick, Minster took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth as Homan doubled home Niemeyer and then came home on a groundout. Parkway regained the lead in the top of the sixth as Trent Rollins, pitching in relief of Crouch, was hit by a pitch and Leszinske followed with a double to right to put runners at second and third for Bryce Stearns, who doubled to left-center to clear the bases and make it a 9-8 game.
"We're starting to swing it. We swung it last night against Antwerp," said Schaffner. "Guys are starting to see the ball in the zone and take some hacks."
Rollins started the bottom of the sixth by hitting Couse. Stueve bunted his teammate to second and a fly ball to right sent Couse to third with two outs. Nathan Beair tied the game with a single, followed by a wild pitch and a walk to Brady Wolf. An error put Niemeyer at first to load the bases for Homan, who drove in his fourth RBI of the game with a single to bring in Beair for the go-ahead run. Schmiesing followed by reaching on an error to bring home more runs.
Adam Wagner came on to pitch and walked Heitkamp. Couse returned to the plate and reached on an error to bring in the final Minster run before Wagner managed the final out.
Beair came on to try and close out unscathed. After walking Fletcher Smith, Beair got Berry to strike out before Brayden Bruns grounded to Niemeyer, who started the 5-4-3 double play to end the game.
"It's been a while on my behalf since I've gone through five pitchers in a game," said Wiss. "But, we said last night after Covington what this game was going to be like. I told them how Parkway is starting to put it together. They've come a long way.
"I'm proud of our kids how they kept answering, but we can't give 11 walks and a hit by pitch and also can't expect the opposing team to have eight errors."
"Minster's a tough gritty team," said Schaffner. "They put the ball into play and we didn't respond defensively on balls we should have made routine plays on."
Homan finished 3-for-4 with four runs scored and four RBI. Niemeyer was the only other Wildcat with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4. Couse scored twice and stole five bases.
Berry and Stearns had drove in two runs for Parkway.
Both teams are back in MAC action Thursday. Minster travels to St. Henry and Parkway hosts Versailles at Don Black Field.
