Arlington rolls past VFW Gold
By Michael Gassett — Journal Sports WriterArticle Photos
NEW ULM - All it took was one bad inning to doom New Ulm VFW Gold Wednesday.
Arlington broke open a tied ball game with five runs in the top of the fifth to beat VFW Gold 9-2 at Mueller Park.
New Ulm tied the game at two in the bottom of the fourth and looked like it was going to be able to hang with Arlington.
But in the top of the fifth Arlington was able to put the game away.
Jesse Schwartz and Lucas Schwope singled and Michael Bullert drove in Schwartz with a single to to right. Ben Mellsha drove in Schwope to go up 4-2. Bullert later scored on an error before Mitch Setterman appeared to pop out to the pitcher.
New Ulm left the field and after a discussion with the Arlington coach, the umpires ruled that VFW Gold catcher interfered with the batter. Two more runs later scored in the inning to give Arlington a 7-2 lead.
"After that call, it really set the tone," said New Ulm assistant coach Kevin Portner, who took over for Bob Weier for Wednesday's game. "I think that the kids started to hang their heads a little bit after we bring everyone out of the dugout it's hard to play again."
Arlington added two more runs in the sixth to make the final score 9-2.
Schwartz earned the win for Arlington. He allowed two runs on two hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.
Bullert was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Mellsha was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Schwope was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Matt Linscheid took the loss for New Ulm. He pitched five innings and allowed seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
"I thought Matt pitched well enough for the win," Portner said. "But we started to throw the ball around. We took batting practice before the game and thought we could get on a roll. We just seemed to hit the ball at them."
Matt Bergmann had both hits for VFW Gold.
New Ulm is off until July 8 when it hosts Hutchinson 1 at Mueller Park.
"We have a nice little break after the holiday," Portner said. "It will give the guys a little break after the tournament we had last weekend."
