Sorfonden’s single breaks tie to earn 4th win
In the bottom of the 6th inning of Thursday’s game at Jim Goeser Field, and the game tied at three, Senior Cyclone Matthew Sorfonden connected for a base hit, breaking the tie to drive home Keegan Ring after Ring came in to courtesy run for Weston Reisz. The Cyclones would add another run on a sacrifice fly by Quinn Koesters to score Landen Kaufman earning a 5-3 victory over the ADM Tigers.
“I give a lot of credit to the guys in front of me,” Sorfonden said. “They’re getting on base, and that just helps me. I’m just trying to do my job and hit them in. I went up to the plate and had the mindset that I need to hit a pitch early and try to hit them in and it didn’t really matter where it was. Just put the ball in play really was my approach.”
Braydon Ernst took the mound for the Cyclones starting his night with a 12-pitch first inning. Both teams went quiet on offense until the bottom of the third inning when Kaufman scored on a passed ball behind Tiger catcher Jaxson Book.
Another passed ball occurred later in the inning allowing Cade Sears to score putting the Cyclones up 2-0. The Cyclones added another run when Koesters connected at the plate scoring Sorfonden to give his team a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the 5th inning with two runners on, Tiger Senior Grant Rychnovsky stepped up to the plate and launched a 3-run home run to tie the game over the fence in center field.
Following Rychnovsky’s home run, a fly ball was hit to Sears to end the half inning. Ernst returned to the mound in the top of the 6th to shut down the Tiger offense.
“With the wind blowing, a home run happens,” said Cyclone Head Coach Heath Stein. “You play baseball in Iowa, there’s going to be wind blowing a lot. But he [Ernst] rebounded from that and continued to dominate in the strike zone and get after the hitters.”
Ernst kept his composure and return to the mound in the top of the 7th to finish the game with a 10-pitch inning, going the distance for 88 pitches to earn his second win of the season.
“That kid dealed today,” Sorfonden said of Ernst. “He did a great job. He gave up one free bag, which is awesome. That’s what we need to do every game. If we can do that every game, we’re going to win a lot of games. He ran this game. He set the tone for the entire game.”
The Cyclone earned their fourth of the season, moving to 4-1 on the year. They returned to action Friday night on the road at 7 p.m. against the undefeated 6-0 Bishop Heelan Crusaders. Offensively, the Crusaders are led by Raiden Ericson with seven hits and Jaron Bleeker with seven runs batted in. On the mound, Bleeker has two wins, while Kaleb LaFavor has 25 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched.
“They’re another good team,” Stein said. “Heelan always has a lot of talent, so we’ll just go back to basics and try to throw the ball over the plate, make plays, and get on base.”
