Twins brushed out of the playoffs

Photo by Dan Larson / Sauk Prairie Eagle

Middleton manager and third base coach Darrell Hellenbrand congratulates Nick Simon after Simon hit a fifth-inning grand slam to put Middleton ahead 7-0 Aug. 17.

By Dan Larson, Sauk Prairie Eagle

Sauk Prairie starting pitcher Paul Lenerz — whose job is predicated on location — knows all too well the influence an inch or two can have on a baseball game.

So it should come as no surprise that he expected the Home Talent League Northern Section championship game Aug. 17 would come down to just that — inches.

"Middleton is a great team and I knew it was going to probably be a game of little things," Lenerz said after the game, referring — as evidence for his premonition — to a pair of costly Twins' errors and a poorly located slider, all in the fourth inning.

"You can pitch the greatest game you want, but it's a game of inches when you have two evenly matched teams like this."

And third-seeded Middleton was on the right end of the ruler, scoring five times in the inning en route to defeating the two-time defending section-champion and top-seeded Twins 7-4 at Sauk City Athletic Field.

Middleton advances to play Utica (12-4) Aug. 24 in the HTL championship series — a round-robin tournament of the four section champions, with games each Sunday from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7.

Already trailing 2-0, Sauk Prairie (15-2) gave Middleton a gift to start the inning when shortstop Bob Spangler's throw to first pulled Steve Pacholke off the base — by mere inches — and allowed Cole Cook to reach.

Lenerz hit Drew Farrel with a pitch two batters later, and Cook scored from second on an infield single by Mike Brabender when Spangler realized he didn't have a play at first and tried to get Cook at third with a no-look, backhand toss that went over Heath Salveson's head.

Lenerz hit the next batter, Josh Hinson, with a pitch to load the bases before Nick Simon belted a grand slam to deep left field on a hanging slider that Lenerz said he "wanted to take back" the second he threw it, giving Middleton (14-4) a 7-0 lead.

"That was pretty much the whole difference in the game," Twins' right fielder and manager Trent Sorg said. "When you give up a five-spot in one inning early in the game and now they're up by seven runs and you haven't got one on the board yet, it takes a lot of wind out of your sails."

Still, the Twins fought back in the sixth. Lucas Koenig drew a walk and Steve Pacholke lined a single to right before Middleton manager Darrell Hellenbrand went to the bullpen.

Ross Hellenbrand relieved Ryan Slaght, but Hellenbrand walked Chase Suchla to load the bases before Chuckie Schara drew a walk to allow Koenig to score and make it 7-1.

William Gorsuch and Salveson each followed with sac-flys to make it 7-3 and Schara scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to three, but Sorg popped out to end the inning, stranding Gorsuch at third.

And the Twins managed just two base runners — Spangler singled in the seventh and Schara got hit by a pitch in the eighth — over the final three innings allowing Middleton to win its 10th straight game and claim its first section championship since 2005, according to Darrell Hellenbrand.

The Twins had an opportunity to strike first in the second inning after Koenig hit a lead-off double that one-hopped the wall, but Pacholke, Suchla and Schara went in order to end the inning.

Nick Simon hit a two-out, two-run groundball single into center field, just past a diving Spangler, an inning later for Middleton's first two runs.

The Twins had an opportunity to respond in the third after loading the bases with two outs, but Schara hit a soft-liner to first that ended the inning.

Afterwards, Sorg admitted falling short of a third straight section championship hurt.

"It hurts to fall short of where your expectations of where you should be at the end of the season (are)," he said.

Still, he was happy with the way his team played all season.

"I'm not disappointed at all with our season," said Sorg, whose team started the 14-game regular season 11-0 before losing, 2-1, to Mazomanie on July 18.

"We played some pretty good ball all year."