Islanders ends regular season with loss to Eagles
July 28th, 2006Six hits were all the Islanders could manage Wednesday as they fell to the Winthrop Eagles 4-2 in a regular season finale at Walsh Field.
A sluggish hitting performance combined with glimpses of dandy defensive plays by Winthrop led to a low scoring night for Gaylord. The Islanders had a player thrown out at home plate in the third inning and a runner was caught stealing second base in the fourth frame.
Gaylord reached the scoreboard first. Josh Gasow and Trevor Vaubel hit a single and double respectively in the second inning. Gasow eventually scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tim Kuphal giving the Islanders a 1-0 advantage.
Winthrop answered with a pair of runs in the third inning. The scoring table was set by a leadoff single by Andy Melius and a walk by James Panning. Both runners would score on a Gaylord error and a single by Ben Melius.
Gaylord came within inches of knotting the game in the bottom of the third inning. Tim Nesvig reached base on a single but was eventually thrown out at the plate after trying to score on Brad Walsh’s basehit.
Gaylord did get the tying run across in the fourth inning. With two outs, Tim Kuphal reached safely on a Winthrop fielding miscue. Darin Hendley was then hit by a pitch while Collin Grams followed with a run scoring single.
Winthrop quickly regained a one run lead in the fifth inning. Singles by Panning, Kevin Erdal and Kris Swenson produced the eventual game winner for the Eagles.
Gaylord gave up another score in the seventh inning. Two singles, an Islanders error and a walk helped produce a 4-2 lead for Winthrop.
Scoring opportunities were few and far between for Gaylord in the final five innings of action. The Islanders failed to advance a runner to second base in their final three at-bats.
Gasow led all Gaylord batters in the setback with two hits and a run scored. Vaubel added a double for the Islanders while Kuphal and Grams charted one RBI apiece.
Carl Bratsch was the losing pitcher. He allowed four runs on seven hits in nine innings of work. Bratsch struckout six and walked four.
With the loss, Gaylord closed out its regular season with a 7-14 record. Winthrop finished the regular season with a 7-15 mark.
