Snowhawks win second straight game

A rare low-scoring game saw the Snowhawks win back-to-back games for the first time this summer.

The Snowhawks beat Black Bear Bar 13-6 on Monday at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk.

“It was a fun game,” player-coach Jeff Smith said. “It was another one of those games where we thought it was gonna be kind of a close game, and it was pretty much throughout the whole game until we finally got some hits going and some guys on base, but with the big crowd there, I thought it was a great night. I really did.”

The game featured the least combined total runs in a snowshoe game this season. The Snowhawks scored three times in the first inning for the wire-to-wire win.

A couple of miscues in the field by Black Bear Bar put runners on for the Snowhawks. Then, Jesse Robinson struck for an RBI double to left. Next, Cole Punches hit a two-run single to expand their lead. 

The Snowhawks scored twice more in the second inning. Derek Young hit an RBI single to left. Punches added to his RBI total with another run-scoring single. 

Black Bear Bar scored a run in the top of the second inning. Andrew Schilling started with a deflected single to right. Tyler Ahonen reached base, with Schilling out at second. Mike Dumask crushed a ball to deep left to bring home Ahonen. 

After two innings, the Snowhawks led 5-1.

All of a sudden, neither team could score. In fact, both had a tough time reaching first base. A total of eight straight outs were recorded between innings two and four. Both teams went three up, three down in the third inning.

“We were all looking at each other, too, on the sidelines thinking, ‘What the heck’s going on here, we’re not scoring any runs. We’re stuck on five, and they’re stuck on one,’” Smith said. “I said … ‘We gotta change that five to an eight or nine or something.’ That was kind of weird, it really was. And we knew that if they had a really good inning, we were gonna be down possibly, tied or even down so we had to get going. We had to move it.”

Black Bear Bar finally got two baserunners in the fourth inning. However, Ahonen ended any momentum they had with a double play groundout.

“That really shocked me too,” Smith said. “They got guys on base. We were able to maybe turn a couple double plays, but it was just from what I remember just bad timing. They had people on, but they couldn’t get them across the plate.”

The Snowhawks were having trouble hitting pitcher Brady Bruhl of Black Bear Bar until the fifth inning came around.

“He pitched pretty good,” Smith said. “He pitches really, really outside. He pitches inside, deep, short. He’s all over the place, but when he did get the balls across, they were right in the middle. I mean they were right there so if you were patient at the plate, you were going to get a really good pitch to hit. I thought he just did a really good job for keeping us kind of off balance for so long. We finally got to him, but it took a while. It really did.”

Gunner Dunbar hit an RBI sacrifice fly. Mark Seils scored one with an infield single. Nick Merckx gave the Snowhawks a boost with an RBI triple to right field. Zach Wachter contributed by reaching first base with one run coming home. The Snowhawks broke the game open at 9-1 after five innings.

Double plays hurt Black Bear Bar all game. Jeff Ziemba grounded into their third double play of the contest in the sixth. After five innings, they still had just one run.

Merckx, the Snowhawks’ usual pitcher, returned to the field after missing last week’s game. He was dialed in for the Snowhawks.

“When he came back, yeah, he was in rare form,” Smith said.

A couple of blasts by the Snowhawks got the crowd stirring in the bottom half of the sixth. Robinson almost cleared the building in left field with a shot that hit the roof top. 

Two batters later, Dunbar hit a towering fly ball that hit the tree in right field for the Snowhawks’ second home run in three batters. They led 12-1.

“They really hit some,” Smith said. “They really hit a couple boomers there definitely. I don’t know what else to call them, but it was nice shots at the right time. Not (too) many balls go over that roof, but that ball was probably two feet from going completely over the building, which is kind of neat. (Gunner’s) put one back up in the trees before so we know he can do that. It’s a little shorter fence out in that area versus the building, but that definitely would’ve reached because that was way up high too.”

Hits started falling for Black Bear Bar in the seventh inning. They scored the maximum five runs. Dumask delivered a two-run single to score their first runs since the second inning. After another double play, Tommy Ziemba picked up his teammate with a hit that scored two runs.

When all was said and done, the Snowhawks won back-to-back games for the first time this summer.

“I hope so,” Smith said about building some momentum. “Sometimes it takes a while to gel a little bit with the newer guys. We’re all getting along, and we don’t all have the best talent combined, but we have a great team. We really do have a good bunch of guys, and we have a lot of fun, and I sometimes I think that’s more important than having a team stacked with talent that doesn’t really get along. There are too many individuals.”

Up next, the Snowhawks (4-2) take on Wickman Construction right back at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk. The game will take place on Monday, Aug. 4 at 7:30 p.m.

“A bunch of big guys that come to play,” Smith said about Wickman Construction. “They can hit the ball. They might not be the fastest on shoes, but they will come to try and outhit us, that’s for sure. We’re looking forward to that contest. I never know exactly who they’re bringing, but in the past, they’ve had some guys that can really hit the crap out of the ball really.”

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