Sears delivers walk-off against Atlantic

In the bottom of the 8^th inning at Jim Goeser Field, with runners on 1^st and 2^nd base, Cyclone Junior Cade Sears stepped to the plate and hit a walk-off single to score Landen Kaufman, delivering their 6^th win of the season. The Cyclones won 7-6.

“I was just looking for a fastball trying to get the job done for my team,” Sears said. “They got themselves in scoring position and all I did was hit it in the gap.”

Franz Reisz opened on the mound for the Cyclones, pitching three innings, striking out two batters and giving up three runs in the top of the 1^st, but head coach Heath Stein was still pleased with his performance.

“It was good to see out of Franz,” Stein said. “It was his best outing. It’s a work in progress. He’s a good pitcher. We’re going to keep giving him starts and he’s going to keep working through some stuff.”

Stephen Leinen took over on the mound following Reisz. Leinen pitched five innings, striking out eight batters, giving up two runs on two hits.

“Stephen’s a competitor,” Stein said. “He did a heck of a job to keep us in that ballgame.”

Multiple Cyclones got their bats going throughout the course of the game, including Sears, Leinen, Hayden Soma, Matthew Sorfonden, Cael Goshorn and Kaufman, who each had multi-hit nights.

A big moment came in the bottom of the 6^th inning with the Cyclones trailing by three. Leinen stepped up, hitting a home run way over the left field fence, cutting the Trojan lead to two runs.

“That’s kind of the team makeup,” Stein added. “We know we’re still in any ballgame. Our lineup top to bottom can really hit the ball and the guys showed a lot of fight and toughness. It’s fun to watch them succeed.”

In the bottom of the 7^th inning, the Cyclones were down to their final out, but Goshorn came up and saved the day when he knocked in a game tying single to force the game to extra innings.

Leinen returned to the mound to pitch the top of the 8^th inning, striking out the side and getting the Cyclones right back in the dugout. Kaufman started the bottom of the 8^th with a single. Quinn Koesters dropped a bunt single to move Kaufman into scoring position. Moments later Sears stepped to the plate delivering the game winning hit.

“He [Sears] showed resilience, he showed toughness and he put a really good swing on a ball,” Stein said.

The Cyclones will have Wednesday off, but head to St. Albert Thursday for a doubleheader against the 7-8 Falcons. The Falcons are led by Owen Marshall with 20 hits and Brendan Monahan with 14 runs batted in. On the mound, Cael Hobbs has three wins with 20 strikeouts and a 0.41 earned run average.

“They have solid pitching,” Stein added. “It’s no secret to success. We need to eliminate free bases as much as possible and keep putting together good at bats.”

Cyclone Brock Lemrick will get the ball to start game one of the doubleheader followed by Weston Reisz who will get the ball in game two. Lemrick has appeared in three game with 10.1 innings pitched and 10 strikeouts. Reisz will be making his third start. He has six strikeouts in seven innings.