Raso homers as Hounds top Hayfield Heat
Published 10:32 pm Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Matt Raso of the Austin Greyhounds had a rare start at third base and he couldn’t have been much happier as the Hounds rolled past the Hayfield Heat 11-5 in Marcusen Park Wednesday night.
Raso, who catches almost every game for the Hounds (14-7 overall), hit his first homer of the summer in the seventh inning to make it 9-3 and he also scored three runs and went 3-for-5.
“I caught about thirty innings over the weekend, so I cherish these games (when I don’t have to catch,” Raso said. “It makes a difference in my hitting when I don’t catch. I have a little more left in the legs.”
The Heat (16-8 overall) got on the board in the top of the first when Kyle Van Wettering singled in a run, but the Hounds took over the game in the fourth and fifth innings.
Austin scored three in the fourth as Pete Conway grounded in a run and Alex Ciola singled in a run and Austin tacked on five more runs in the fifth as Zach Schara singled in a run and Tyler Leopold doubled in two more runs.
The Heat, who didn’t have their entire team present, were using the contest as a warm-up for when they begin the Region 5C Tournament as a No. 3 seed next Wednesday in Riverland Community College at 7:30 p.m.
“We wanted to get a game in so we wouldn’t have a week and a half between our last regular season game and our first playoff game,” Hayfield manager Kasey Krekling said. “We were able to get our guys some at-bats against a good ‘B’ team.”
Heat 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 — 5 11 2
Hounds 0 0 0 3 5 0 1 2 0 — 11 12 1
Hounds pitching: Aaron Klatt, 3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 5 K; Weston Hansen (W), 3 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 2 ER, 5 K, 1 HBP; Zach Schara, 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 7 K
Hounds hitting: Andy Swank, 2-for-5, 2 doubles, R; Joe Kroc, 1-for-5, RBI, R; John Frein, 1-for-2, R, SB, 2 BBs; Matt Raso, 3-for-5, HR, RBI, 3 R; Zach Schara, 2-for-4, RBI, 2 R, BB; Tyler Leopold, 1-for-2, double, 2 RBIs, R, BB; Pete Conway, 0-for-4, RBI; Alex Ciola, 1-for-4, RBI; Zach Huntley, 0-for-3, R, BB; Joe Ciola, 1-for-1
Heat pitching: Nick Thompson (L), 4 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 8 R, 7 ER; Kasey Krekling, 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 K; Mark Evjen, 1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 ER, 1 K
Heat hitting: Tyler Krekling, 1-for-2, RBI, R, 2 SB, 3 BBs; Shane Barry, 1-for-5, double, R; Kyle VanWettering, 2-for-5, RBI, SB, R; Travis Kaufmann, 1-for-3, double, R, HBP, 2 BBs; Drew Streightiff, 0-for-5; Evjen, 2-for-5; Jake Krier, 2-for-3, triple, 2 RBIs, R, 2 BBs; Thompson, 0-for-2; Cam Rutledge, 1-for-3, BB; Kasey Krekling, 1-for-3, double, RBI