Wells scores big playoff win
Published 8:49 am Friday, July 18, 2008
The Wells Wildcats pulled off the upset of the season with a 9-1 win over the Cleveland Condors Tuesday in Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.
The Condors had won the two previous meetings by five runs in each game. The first time the two teams met, Cleveland walked away with a 10-5 victory and the second time they got together the Wildcats lost 8-3, but few expected the performance of Wells starting pitcher Eric Niebuhr.
Niebuhr threw nine innings of three-hit ball and struck out 14 to advance his team to the next round.
“That was the best game I’ve seen him throw,” Wildcats manager Dan McLevish said.
The Condors found only one run against Niebuhr and that came in the sixth inning — well after Wells had taken the lead.
“We played defense and the hits came,” McLevish said.
The Wildcats pounded out 14 hits, including three apiece from Tom Voigt and Chris Hamon. More importantly Wells didn’t commit any errors in the field.
“It was the first playoff win in the last three years,” McLevish said. “They swept us this year, and I think they thought they were going to walk through this one. It just didn’t happen.”
The Wildcats scored four runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 8-1 and added a run in the ninth to move on in the playoffs.
Wells faces Blue Earth Saturday in Blue Earth. The winner will face the winner of the Waterville and Morristown game Sunday. The losers of each game will also face-off on Sunday.
When the Wildcats last played Blue Earth they lost 13-6, but the records no longer have an importance in the playoffs as Wells showed in its win over Cleveland.
“It was a lot of fun,” McLevish said. “It was a big, big win.”
Wells 9, Cleveland 1
Wells – 001 021 401 – 9 14 0
Cleveland – 000 00100 – 1 3 2
WP – Eric Niebuhr – 9 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 14K