Hounds fall to Royals
Published 12:02 am Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Austin Greyhounds lost their ace and the game to the Rochester Royals in an amateur baseball game at Marcusen Park Friday.
After the Hounds’ ace Dave Meyer was knocked out of the game when he was hit in the hand by a bouncing hit in the fourth inning, the Royals (11-9 overall, 1-1 Section 2B) rallied to a 10-5 win.
Rochester (6-12 overall) scored five unearned runs in the last two innings to break open a game that was tied at five.
“We just didn’t make the plays and we gave away too many outs,” Hounds manager John Frein said.
Matt Raso pitched the last two innings for Austin, but he couldn’t pitch out of the jams. Rocheter’s Jimmy Strain reached on fielding error by Austin third baseman Matt Cano in the eighth inning with two outs and two runs scored on the play to put the Royals up 7-5.
“I was just trying to throw strikes and that’s all you can control,” Raso said. “It’s better that (we have those errors) now than in a month from now.”
The Hounds (6-12 overall, 0-2 Section 2B) fell behind 5-1 after four innings, but Raso tied the game with a two-out double off of the left field wall to score two in the fifth.
“(Rochester pitcher Chad Wiesner) had the little slider going,” Raso said. “I was just trying to choke and poke and I dropped some barrel on it, I guess. At the time it was big, but we just couldn’t close it out.”
Raso was one of five straight Hounds to reach base with two outs in the fifth. Tyler Leopold also blooped a double to score a run in the frame and Craig Braaten had a run-scoring single up the middle.
Dan Zielke struck out with Raso at second to end the frame.
Meyer’s night came to an end while he was trying to field a one-hopper from the mound. The ball ricocheted off his throwing hand and left him with some heavy bruises. He had allowed nine hits and four earned runs in his short outing.
“We saw (Dave get hit), and it would not be good at all to lose him. Hopefully nothing’s wrong, we definitely need him,” Raso, who was catching when Meyer was hurt, said. “He was Dave for awhile but they pushed a couple of bleeders across.”
Meyer, who said he did not break any bones in the hand, is hoping to get back in the lineup as soon as possible.
“I can’t stand sitting out too long, so I’ll try to get back in soon,” he said.
The Hounds had runners on first and second with two outs in the eighth, but Cano grounded out.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Rochester 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 2 3 10 17 1
Hounds 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 5 11 3
Hounds pitching: Dave Meyer, 3 2/3 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 4 ER, 1 HBP, 4 K; Pete Korfage (L), 3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 6 BB, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 K; Matt Raso, 2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 R, 0 ER, 1 K
Hounds hitting: Mitch Mullenbach, 1-for-4, double, R, BB; Nick Rohne, 1-for-2, R, 3 BBs; Matt Cano, 0-for-4, R, BB; Craig Braaten, 2-for-5, RBI, R; Tyler Leopold, 3-for-5, double, 2 RBIs, R; Raso, 1-for-4, double, 2 RBIs, BB; Tim Kaplan, 0-for-2; Nick Bowe, 2-for-5; John Frein, 1-for-4; Dan Zielke, 0-for-3
Royals pitching: Chad Wiesner (W), 7 IP, 8 H, 4 BB, 5 R, 4 ER, 7 K; Ezra Campbell (S), 2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 0 R, 2 K
Royals hitting: Nate Nice, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs; Tim Osterlin, 3-for-7; Tom Corcoran, 4-for-7, RBI; Josh Matti, 1-for-3; Dave Adams, 0-for-4, RBI; Brian Denisen, 4-for-5, double, RBI; Campbell, 0-for-2; Cody Jones, 4-for-6; double, 2 RBIs; Jimmy Strain, 1-for-6