Snowhawks get by Black Bear Bar, remain unbeaten

After a rainout a week earlier, the Snowhawks found themselves in a tight game on Monday night.

The Snowhawks beat Black Bear Bar 9-7 at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk.

“It was a pretty exciting game to play,” coach Jeff Smith said. “They really brought a good team. A lot of hits scattered around. I was pretty pleased with the team they brought. I knew it was going to be ... a low-scoring game.”

Black Bear Bar scored first with three runs in the top of the first, their best inning. Dom Caroselli hit an RBI double. Then, Brady Bruhl connected on an RBI single to score a run. Martin Jaramillo kept the inning going with another hit that scored a run.

“They wasted no time putting runs on the board,” Smith said. “We knew we had to bear down and then hit. I thought overall as a team we didn’t hit very well. I wish we would have hit like we did two weeks ago. It just didn’t happen, and we were hitting right at guys.”

Derek Young and Don Moore showed off their speed and produced a run in the bottom of the first. Jesse Robinson smoked a ground-rule RBI double for a second run.

Black Bear Bar led 3-2 after one inning.

    Tyler Ahonen of Black Bear Bar flips the ball to second base to get an out in the seventh inning against the Snowhawks Monday, July 29 at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

The Snowhawks didn’t have their best game offensively. However, they scored the maximum five runs in the second inning that gave them the lead.

Billy Kuckahn reached on a rare drop in the field by Black Bear Bar. Two batters later, Dustin Schowalter made it on base with an error. Nick Merckz tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI hit.

Young then hit an RBI single with two outs to score one. It looked like Black Bear Bar got Robinson to ground out. Instead, a drop at first kept the inning alive. Two runs scored. Cole Punches scored the fifth run with an RBI single.

The Snowhawks led 7-3 after two innings.

Black Bear Bar started to catch up. Bruhl hit an inside-the-park home run to deep center in the fourth inning. He had enough speed to score ahead of the throw home. 

“It was a nice hit, took us kind of by surprise,” Smith said. “(It’s) exciting for the fans. That brought them right in the game again. We had to tighten up a little bit and had to watch our defense as far as where we played.”

Both teams showed off their defense. The Snowhawks turned a double play in the third and fourth innings. Black Bear Bar shut down the Snowhawks’ offense. They didn’t allow a run from the third to the sixth inning.

The sixth inning had some drama to it. Bruhl started a one-out rally with a double to center. Jaramillo reached on an error with one run scoring. Tyler Ahonen and Ryan Domaszek loaded the bases with singles.

Next, Jason Koranda tied the game at seven apiece with a fielder’s choice RBI. Going back to the top of the lineup, it looked like Tommy Ziamba had given Black Bear Bar the lead with an RBI single. However, the runner that came home touched home plate, instead of going off to the side. The runner was called out by the home plate umpire, and the inning ended.

“It was something I wasn’t really aware of,” Smith said. “I didn’t watch that. Both teams are warned before the game that that’s going to happen. So he called the player out, and that’s kind of how that went. It was kind of a surprise to a lot of us because none of us really saw it. That’s a rule in place to protect the catcher and the runner.”

The Snowhawks put their first two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth but Blear Bear Bar extinguished the rally by turning a double play.

“They made some great plays defensively,” Smith said. “They weren’t backing down, and they weren’t afraid of anything. They came to play.”

The deciding moment of the game came in the seventh inning. The Snowhawks got a lead-off double by Robinson. Punches delivered an RBI single to left. Tod Niemuth kept the inning going with a single to center. Two batters later, Ryan Morien drove in a run to put the Snowhawks up 9-7.

“The middle of the lineup — really proud of those guys,” Smith said. “Those guys came through clutch big time and to have a team play a team like we did, you have to have 10 batters. Everyone’s got to pull their weight.”

Black Bear Bar had runners on second and third in the top of the eighth. The Snowhawks got two straight groundouts and a strikeout to end the threat.

The game was the Snowhawks’ closest contest since the Chicago All-Stars on the Fourth of July. That was also the last time the game went nine innings.

“I know I didn’t have my best night,” Smith said. “It really is nice that someone else behind you is going to pick you up and carry you through. Our team keeps going and really proud of the guys the way they did that.”

Up next, the Snowhawks (7-0) will play The Lakeland Times on Monday, Aug. 5 at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk. 

“We’re always excited to play Lakeland Times,” Smith said. “Gregg (Walker) brings a lot of great guys to your guys’ team. We look forward to that one. Playing these games is not all win, win, win, win. We like to play the teams that are good guys, respect the game, respect the fans. And we don’t take you that lightly either.”

The Snowhawks’ game against Dazzle’s Demons, which was rained out last week, will be made up on Monday, Aug. 26.

Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].