Webb, walks lead Jays past Cardinals

By Jim Metcalfe, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Monday, April 28, 2008 (6 months, 4 weeks ago)
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DELPHOS — St. John’s only got one hit Friday night versus Midwest Athletic Conference unbeaten New Bremen at Stadium Park.
With the wind blowing in, they did receive eight walks from Cardinal southpaw starter Brad Wendel and a stellar pitching performance from Taylor Bowersock and Nate Webb to upset Bremen 3-1 in baseball action.
“We were very patient at the plate. That’s hard to do when you have a guy throwing that kind of heat and having control issues,” Blue Jays coach Dan Metzger said. “We showed good plate discipline. You have to take what you can get because generally, you aren’t going to get a lot of hits and runs against MAC pitchers.”
The Jays (6-8, 1-3 MAC) had chances in the first two frames to get on the board.
With one down in the first, Ty Bergfeld got aboard via a throwing error and Curt Metzger walked. Webb bounced out to move the runners up but Jeremy Kline flied out to left to end the threat.
The Jays loaded the bases with a walk (Chris Pohlman), a sacrifice bunt (Ryan Fischer) and an error on the play and another free pass to Joel Pohlman. However, two strikeouts and a pop-up kept the bases juiced.
The visitors got runners to second in both the first two innings: Anthony Moeder in the first on a single and steal and Chris Heitkamp with two down in the second on two errors but Bowersock got out of both jams.
However, the Blue Jay senior southpaw — who pitched two innings of relief the night before at Ottoville — had his forearm cramp up and was done.
Webb (2-2; 5 IP, 2 hits, 1 unearned run, 2 walks, 3 Ks) got all the support he needed in the home half of the third. Wendel threw 32 pitches — 23 balls — in the frame.
Metzger lined out to right field to start it, with Jared Cox making a terrific grab. However, walks to Webb, Kline and C. Pohlman loaded the bases. Consecutive wild pitches scored Webb and Kline, leaving Pohlman at third. Fischer walked.
On a double steal, Fischer drew a throw to second and Pohlman crossed home plate for a 3-0 lead.
The visitors (9-4, 3-1 MAC) got an unearned run back in the fourth. Matt McCollum singled down the left-field line and Adam Meyer sacrificed; an error on the bunt allowed him to be safe. Barlage bunted both runners up and a groundout by Derrick Bruggeman scored McCollum and put Meyer at third. However, Webb picked him off base to keep the lead at 3-1.
The Jays got their only hit of the night — Metzger — with one out in the fourth.
The Jays came up with a gem of a defensive play in the fifth. With one gone, Spencer Rohr got aboard via a fielding error and stole second. Cox launched a single up the middle but centerfielder Hemker put the ball on a dime — on the fly — to catcher C. Pohlman to tag Rohr at home, with Cox moving to second. Webb fanned Corey Jutte to keep the 2-run lead.
“We made some defensive mistakes again but we also made some good plays. Brandon’s throw right there was so big,” Metzger noted.
In the top of the seventh, Bruggeman led off with a 9-pitch, full-count base-on-balls but Webb bore down, fanning the next two and getting Cox to fly lazily to Hemker to end it.
“Today was such a big performance for Nate as far as being a leader on this team,” coach Metzger added. “He had to come in without much warmup, so he didn’t have his best stuff, but you could see the confidence growing; he got stronger. That’s the type of game he can build on as a pitcher.”
The Jays visit Parkway and New Bremen is at Versailles Tuesday.

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