Season over.....Winsted 4, YA 3
Gregg Kohler put an end to YA's season with a blast over Perlich's head in CF, plating the game winning run with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Winsted scored their 1st 2 runs in the early stages of the games thanks to some YA fielding difficulties.
YA came back in the seventh and took the lead when Perlich was driven home by Whiskey and Arnie then when yatzee with a man on, putting YA in the lead.
That lead was short lived, as the younger     tied the game in the bottom of the 7th with a solo shot of his own.
From there, Gregg provied the heroics noted above to send Winsted to the State Tourney and send YA home to watch them.

Plato 9, YA 1 8-5-07
Plato walked all over YA in their 2nd win of the regions, which also punched their ticket to State, in a 9-1 trouncing of the Cardinals.
The first half of the game was all a game of this magnatude should have been played like, but the 2nd half was more like a severe butt whoopin.
Aron Peters started and performed very well for YA, doing all he was expected to do. Peters held the potent Plato offense to 1 run, scattering 6 walks and five hits thru 6+ innings of work. Peters seemed to be in james for the most part, but always was able to get out of it unscaved.
YA's offense pretty much stayed in bed, as Mike Mueller had pin point acuracy on the day.
As far as the scoring goes, Plato got on top first, when Boomer was singled home by Wilkens in the 2nd.
YA counted with what turned out to be their only run, when Geezer scored on a ground ball out by Kosteca.
Plato would turn it on in the 6th. After a 5th, when Peters got the first 2 out, then issued 3 consecutive walks and finally got the final out to keep the game tied, Plato's Nick Johnson finally knocked Peters out of the game with an RBI double to the gap in right, delivering the 2nd run of the inning from YA. Mobeck (draftee from Cologne) came in and got Becker out to kill the rally, after allowing 1 more run in on a failed pickoff attempt.
Mobeck then got in trouble in the 7th, by walking the first 2 and throwing multiple dirty balls to the backstop. He gave way to Kohls, who came in and limited the damage, although Plato got to him for 3 runs also.

YA 10, Winsted 6 8-4-07
YA won what many fans classified as a dogfight on Saturday to push themselves into the winners bracket for a chance for the first State entrant from region 7, with a 10-6 win.
Both offense traded blows to starting pitchers Nik Franck and Josh Anthony, but it was YA's relief that held steady late in the game that was the deciding factor.
YA got 1 right away in the first, when Werner was sent home on a WP.
Winsted countered with a run to tie it, when Hoof knocked in T Kley from 2nd with 2 outs.
Winsted would take the lead in the 4th, when G Kohler was sent home by M Kohler.
YA would tie in the 5th, when Kostecka scored on a throwing error.
Winsted threatened in the bottom of 5. With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Eric Panning saved the day by flying in from out of no where to snag the Hoof drive to the gap and save a 3 run double, which would hav broken the game open for Winsted and probably sealed a different fate for YA.
Winsted then quieted the YA rowdies with 2 runs in the 6th. M Kohler led off with a deep double that would have cleared the fence, if it weren't for a hard wind blowing straight in. S Kohler and T Kley provided the RBI knocks to take the 2 run lead.
YA seemed to be done for, but showed their resiliency, with 3 runs in the 7th to take the lead back. YA chased Anthony off the hill when their first 5 batters all reached base safely. After and RBI single by Maschke and a 2 RBI single from Geezer, Anthony gave way to Lamott, who had a hard time finding the plate but got out of the inning reguardless.
Winsted came right back and tied in the bottom half of the 7th, when TJ Alid's screamer to right with 2 outs, scooted over the leftfielders glove, plating the tying run.
YA came right back and took the lead for good with 2 in the 8th, when Stender and Arnold delivered the big RBI knocks.
Winsted led off the 8th with a single, chasing Franck from the hill but that just brot the reigning pitcher of the year to the hill who allowed that leadoff batter to score, but let no other damage come to his team.
YA got 3 more insurance runs in the 9th, capitalizing off of Winsted errors and using a sac fly to get them.

Plato 11, YA 1 (7 inn) 7-30-07
Not much to say about this game except YA got their butts kicked. YA lost their 3rd game since Memorial weekend in their lowest output since the last time they played Plato (shutout).
Jon Becker raked the Cardinals for 2 homers and a double, driving in 4. Engelman also drove in 4.
For YA, JP Schwartz did well in relief throwing 2+ innings of shutout ball. Geezer and Franck had the only 2 hits of the game for YA.

YA over Hamburg 2 games to 1 7-28-07
Game 1
Troy Kohls saved his best for the playoffs, as he led the Cardinals charge into the playoffs with a 8-2 win. Kohls had the Hawk batters waving at pitches all day long, providing him with a nice cool breeze that kept him comfortable all day long.
YA got 4 runs in the 3rd inning, using 5 duck fart hits to take control of the game.
The Hawks made it a game again, when they used an error to score 2 unearned runs, making it a 4-2 games.
After that,however, the Cardinals kept chipping away at Mueller, the Hawk's steady ace, and finally knocked him out of the game in the 7th inning.

Game 2
The Hawks got a gritty outting from the injured arm of Darren Green, as he got threw 6 innings worth of Cardinals, finally giving way to Tim Stuewe who finished off the game.
YA took the lead first again, this time Justin Perlich provided the clutch 2-out, 2 RBI single.
YA got out to a comfortable 4-1 lead and seemed to have Hamburg dead in the water. However, they still had a little steam in the engine and mounted a rally in the 8th. They used a couple of YA errors and a couple of walks to tie the game in the 8th. Tim Stuewe provided the celebratory walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth, knocking Aaron Peters home with a duck fart single of his own.
Adam Kostecka threw an outstanding 8 innings, after being tossed on the hill last second because of an unexpected scratch to the lineup.

Game 3
YA narrowly got past Hamburg and advanced to their 1st region birth in 15 years, with a 3-0 shutout of Hamburg.
Crafty veteran lefties dueled each other in this game, as Mike Mueller was matched against Nik Franck. Muellers only mistake of the game was a hanging curveball which was gobbled up and smacked over the house in left field by Tim Gieseke, as YA jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 5th.
YA added their 3rd run in the 8th, as Matt S almost made an amazing catch, but crashed into the fence causing the ball to jar free and allowing Werner to scamper home.
Franck scattered 7 hits in the game and the YA defense provided the necessary solid "D" to put the nail in Hamburgs season.

YA 4, Hutch 2 7-19-07
YA got another outstanding pitching performance, this time from Adam Kostecka, who threw a complete game allowing only 1 earned run on 6 hits. Stacks also had a helluva game at the plate, driving in both the first and last runs, with the last proving to be the game winner.
YA got on top first with a run in the 2nd. Kostecka ripped a single down the line, which drove in Geezer from 2nd.
Hutch came back with 2 in the 3rd, when a hot shot bounced off the YA SS's knee and into CF.
It would remain a pitchers duel until the 7th, when YA finally did something with all of the walks (8) the Hutch starting pitcher allowed. Panning came thru with a huge clutch hit, a 2 RBI ground rule double that got caught up in the outfield fence ivey. Stacks then got it done again, with a sac fly that drove in the 4th YA run.
Stacks had to battle in the 8th, where he allowed 1 more run, but also left runners stranded on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, getting a K for the 2nd out and a routine grounder for the 3rd.
Stacks and Werner both had 2 hits. Geezer scored 2 of the 4 runs.
Side note, Werner looked more than solid in his first stint behind the dish since middle school, allowing reg catcher Whiskey to get only his 2nd game off of the year. Whiskey, pulled thumb muscle/day to day...probable for Tues vs. Hamburg

YA 9, Jordan 1 7-18-07
Jeff Arnold had one of his better stints on the mound this year, limiting the Brewers to 1 hit thru 6 innings of work. The Cardinals offense was a bit stiffled in the begining, but got to the Jordan pitchers later in the game, which has been par for the course this year.
YA scored 2 in the 3rd to take the lead, when Arnie generated a sac fly RBI and Maschke knocked the other run in with a bloop single.
The game was notched at 2 for a while thereafter, but YA took a big lead after scoring 4 in the 7th. Franck caught chalk on a bases loaded 2 RBI double down the left field line. He was followed by a 2 RBI rap by Panning.
After Jordan got an unearned run off of reliever Kohls in the bottom of 7, YA came back with 3 more in the 8th. Kohls stayed red hot, driving in the first run of the inning. Maschke drove in his 2nd run of the nite with another single and the 3rd run scored via a Jordan error.
Arnie finished the game allowing the single hit with no runs and k'ing 6. Ignoring the 1 unearned run, Kohls and JP pitched 3 innings of good relief. Whiskey and Chedda finished with 3 hits a piece. Chedda, Tank and Pan-fry all had 2 RBI a piece.

YA 7, Cologne 3 7-15-07
YA took a tough one from Cologne in the final league game of the year, as they scored 4 runs over the final 4 innings to steal a nailbiter in Cologne.
Arnold plopped his 5th homer of the year into the cattails in CF in the 1st.
In the 2nd, YA got an RBI single from B Stender and an RBI sac fly from Arnold to take a 3-0 lead.
However, Cologne battled back in the 4th, with 2 runs of their own to make it a 1 run contest.
From that point YA chipped away with runs here and there over the final 4 innings.
Maschke knocked Arnie in in the 6th with a single and error. Arnie used the old safety squeeze to bring home Werner in the 8th. Back-to back-to back doubles, courtesy of Kohls Kramer and Werner provide 2 more insurance runs in the 9th.
Franck tossed a complete game K'ing 7. Werner had the only multi hit game for YA with 2 doubles. Arnold added 3 RBI's to his huge run producing totals this year.

YA 14, Mound 3 (7 inn) 7-14-07
YA got back to winning with a thrashing of Mound on Saturday.
YA got going early and often with 6 in the 2nd inning. Werner, B Stender, Arnold, Geezer and Franck all had RBI knocks in the inning.
After stretching the lead to 9-3, Franck added his 8th homer of the year in the 6th. YA used doubles from Arnie and Kohls, as well as 2 more walks, to score 3 more in the 7th.
Arnie finished this game 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's. Franck went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI's. Kohls had a double and an RBI and Koester added a single with 2 RBI's as well.

Belle Plaine 9, YA 8 7-12-07
Belle Plaine was the team to finally upend YA, who's winning streak ended at 14 games, with a 9-8 loss.
It was a highly exciting game with a lot of back and forth scoring and lead changes.
YA drew first blood in the bottom of the 3rd when YA used an error to get a run across and take the 1-0 lead.
BP came back in the top of the 4th with a run to tie it when Gieseke threw a bunt attempt into right field, allowing 1 runner to cross.
YA again posted a run in the bottom of the 4th, when Chet Maschek and Bob Kraemer executed the double steal of home to perfection.
BP came right back with 2 in the 5th when Tim Huber hit a screaming homer to right. Later in the inning, BP showed they can executed the double steal also, plating the go ahead run to take the 3-2 lead.
YA had a big bottom of 5 however and looked to be in the driver seat. Gieseke provided and RBI double, followed by a Joel Stender RBI fielders choice. Troy Kohls knocked in a run with a sac fly and Werner singled in the 4th run of the inning. YA went onto the field in the 6th, now with a 6-3 lead.
Relief for YA wasn't so relieving as ace Troy Kohls left the game with the lead. Enter JP Schwartz, who hasn't pitched in some time and needed to shake some rust. BP did just that. After and easy 6th and a Jeff Arnold homer for YA in their part of the 6th, BP got 6 in the 7th, thanks to some shotty defense from YA. After tying the game at 6, BP vet Jeff "Hot Dog" Miller sent a screamer to right which glanced off the YA LF's glove, allowing 2 to score as BP took the lead back at 8-7.
After an ins run for BP in the 8th, YA got another back with a Gieseke sac fly in the bottom of 8, to make it a 9-8 game, bad guys.
YA mounted charged in both the 8th and 9th, leaving runners stranded at 3rd both innings. The clutch hits that had been there all year, wasn't tonite and BP walked out of YA with the win.
Arnie whent 3 for 4 with a homer in the loss as well as pitching 1 2/3 innings of perfect relief.



YA 11, Norwood 1 (7 inn) 7-7-07
2 former Indians (Panning and Franck) had big games against their old squad as the Cardinals errupted for 10 in the 7th to 10-run the Redskins, 11-1 in 7 innings.
Norwood kept it close for most of the game using a few Cardinals baserunning misques and some clutch defensive plays. Indian stater Lester crusied thru the 1st 2 innings, until Franck singled and later scored on a Panning double.
The game would remain 1-0 for the next few innings as Jeff Arnold held Norwood down in the swealtering heat for most of the afternoon.
Norwood finally pinned down a run off of Arnold to tie it in the top of the 7th when Ische hit a sac fly that drove in Kube.
As Norwood celebrated tying the game, the didn't realize that at the same time they would wake up the sleeping YA bats.
Tim Gieseke started the bottom of the 7th with a bang, connecting on his first dinger of the year to take the lead back for YA. Later, with the bases loaded, Werner drove a 2 RBI single to make it a 4-1 lead. That was followed by a Brandon Stender 2 RBI single.
A couple batters later, Chet Maschke put the home crowd in a frenzy when he took a sharp curve ball deep over the left field fence. The 2 run homer was Maschke's first homer of his life.
YA wasn't done yet. With a 8-1 lead, Geezer was back on base with a walk, and Stacks walked also. With 2 on, Franck ended the game in walk off style, hitting his 2nd offering over the road in right to complete the 10 run rule.
Arnold finished the game on the hill with his 5th win of the year and 7 k's.
Franck had a 3 for 3 game with 3 runs and 3 RBI's. Panning went 2 for 2 with a run and an RBI. Werner and Stender contributed 2 hits and 2 RBI's a piece as well.

YA 11, Plato 1 (7 inn) 6-24-07
The YA Cardinals took a step in the direction they wanted to go last nite with a win over the 1st place Bluejays in dominating fashion. The game haulted early for the 4th straight game due to the 10 run rule, with a 11-1 win in 7 innings.
YA was all over starting BJ pitcher Kyle Panning, getting 4 runs and 7 hits off the youngster in 1 1/3 inning of work.
Scoring commensed with B Stender and Arnold delivering singles in the 1st, on their way to massive evenings. Tim Gieseke drove a clutch 2 out 2 RBI double down the right field line to knock in the first runs. Geezer then promply scored after 2 pass balls, making it a 3 run lead.
Scott Welch took 1 back with a solo job in the top of the 2nd.
YA came right back and erased that run with one of their own, as Bob Kraemer scored on a Whiskey single.
From their YA starting pitcher Nik Franck held Plato off the board, getting out of a couple of 1st and 3rd jams in the process.
The Cardinals started piling on the runs from the 4th inning on. YA scored 2 more in the 4th, on an RBI double from Whiskey and a groundout from Chet Maschke.
1 more was added in the 5th as Franck scored on a Werner single.
3 runs were plated in the 6th when Jeff Arnold scored on a Plato snowball fight and the other 2 came home on Franck's 6th homer of the year.
The 10 run rule was put into effect and the Cardinals flew onto the field to congradulate Jeff Arnold on a game well done as he knocked Werner in from second with an RBI single to make it 11-1.
Arnie is in some other solar system right now, going 5 for 5 in this game, everything a sharp line drive. Whiskey added 3 more hits to go with his 2 RBIs. Werner and Franck both collected 2 hits on the nite as well.
Franck finished the game allowing the single run through 7 innings of work, k'ing 3 and allowing 4 hits.

YA 13, Hamburg 3 (7 inn) 6-24-07
YA took it to the Hawks on Sunday afternoon and finally ended the Hawks recent dominance over the Cardinals. YA needed only 7 innings to put another tally in the win column, beating Hamburg 13-3.
In a battle of aces, Troy Kohls for YA and Mike Mueller for Hamburg, the beginning of the game turned out to be all but a pitchers duel.
YA put one on the board right away in the first, when Werner singled to lead off the game, stole second, moved to third on a pop fly and finally scored on an infield ground out.
Hamburg retaliated with 3 in the bottom of the 1st. Matt Schwictenberg started the game with a 14 pitch at bat where he finally singled and the next batter Aaron Peters doubled. They later scored on Cardinal miscues and their 3rd run was plated when Dereck Wolter scored on a Taylor Peters single.
That would be the last morsel of scoring the Hawks would get to taste, as Kohls settled down and retired all but 2 of the batters he faced for the rest of the game, including the last 13 in a row.
YA scored 3 times in the 3rd, twice on a double steal of home. The Cards scored 3 more in the 5th, thanks to a Gieseke RBI single and a 2 run homer from Franck.
YA finally knocked Mueller out of the game in the 6th with 5 more runs, where the Cards stole 3 more bases and collected 4 more hits.
Werner capped off the scoring with a solo job over the scoreboard in centerfield in the 7th.
Chet Maschke led the Cards going 3 for 4 with 3 runs and Franck threw in 3 RBI day.
Kohls finished with 7 inn, 3 k's and 2 earned runs.

YA 13, Cologne 3 (8 inn) 6-20-07
The Cardinals had to wait for the 2nd time through the order for a 2nd consecutive game, as they score 7 in the 4th on their way to their 13-3 win over Cologne.
YA put up 1 in the 3rd when starting pitcher Adam Kostecka started the inning with a single, followed by an Eric Panning blast to the gap, scoring Stacks but Panning got thrown on at 2nd on the play.
In the 7 run 4th, Arnold got on base thanks to a Hollander error to lead off the inning. He scored on a Maschke single. After Gieseke walked, Franck drove Maschke home on another single. Kostecka followed with his 2nd single, driving in Gieseke. With the bases juiced, Kraemer pushed Franck home with an infield single. Brandon Stender followed later in the inning with a sac fly and the final 2 came home courtesy of another Cologne error.
Andy Lein made things interesting again with a 3 run dinger in the top of the 5th, but YA promptly scored again in the bottom half, when Franck scored on a stolen base of 3rd and wild pitch at home all in the same play.
YA scored 2 more in the 6th, when Werner led off with a double and scored on an Arnold triple, which otherwise would have been a routine popfly if not for the CF loosing the ball in the twylight.
YA added their final run when Kostecka hustled home from 2nd on yet another Cologne error.
Kostecka picked up the win on the mound going 5 strong and led the Cards at the plate going 2 for 4 with 3 runs and an RBI. Brandon Stender chipped in 2 hits with 2 RBI's as well. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from the self proclaimed duo of "Team Domination".

YA 12, Norwood 1 (7 inn) 6-16-07
YA took a sleeper in the Annual Slug n Chug game, coming from behind to beat the Ingins, 12-1 in 7.
Norwood got on the board early when Justin Loehrs' double drove home a run in the first. That would be all the stingy YA defense would allow however.
It took a couple looks, but YA finally got to starter Jeremy Ische the 2nd time through the order. The Cardinals scored 3 in the 3rd, 4 in the 4th, 3 in the fifth, and 2 in the sixth.
Nik Franck picked up the win for YA, pitching 6 innings allowing the single run on 4 hits and Geezer came in for an inning of non-save work.
Stroking the ball well again was Sir Jeffrey Arnold. His stat line for this affair: 3 for 3 (homer shy of the cycle), 2 RBI's, 4 runs, 2 walks, 2 SB's. Geezer also drove in 3 RBIs of his own. Geezer too has been finding his golden swing as of late, along with numerous other Cardinals who had been struggling all year.

YA 13, Mayer 4 6-14-07
YA continued its winning ways thanks to a 5 run 1st inning. YA used 3 hits, a couple walks and a couple Mayer errors to tally the 5 runs, which chased starter Josh Anthony off the hill after 1 inning. The bats stayed alive for the next few innings, stretching the lead to 13-2 through 6. After that, the bats went silent.....which was ok, as Cardinal releivers needed some work after being unnecessary in the past few weeks.
Troy Kohls got his 3rd straight win on the bump, going 6 and allowing 2 runs (both solo homers to said Anthony). JP Schwartz was said releiver, going the final 3 frames, also allowing 2 runs in a "shaking off the rust" type of outing.
Chet Maschke stayed on fire in the Crow, getting hits in his 1st 3 at bats and Jeff Arnold added another homer to his growing list of statistical brilliance this year.

Coors Light Champ Game....YA 7, Hamburg 3 6-10-07
YA pounded out 10 hits on route to their Championship Game win, with a 7-3 win over Hamburg, their first win over Hamburg in 3 years.
It didn't take long for the Cardinal bats to get to the Hamburg pitching, as they scored 3 in the 2nd inning. Maschke scored on a deep Gieseke double, after getting on via error. Eric Panning drove a ball into the plate, causing a high hop which was enough to score Gieseke from 3rd and Kostecka later scored on another Hawk error.
Kraemer drove in the 4th YA run when he grounded out allowing Franck to score.
YA added 3 more in the 6th, using back to back triples from Werner and Brandon Stender to do so. Arnold also cracked an RBI single in the inning.
Arnie added another gutty outting to his resume, suffering from flu-like symptoms all game. Needless to say, he didn't have his normal good stuff, but mixed it up enought to keep the Hawks off the board for the majority of the game. Arnold scattered 8 hits and 2 walks, while k'ing 4.

Coors Light Rd 2....YA 7, Carver 0 6-9-07
YA blanked another team for their 3rd straight shutout and 4th in 5 games, beating Carver 7-0. Nik Franck was the hurler in this one for YA and extended his scoreless innings streak to 22 innings with this outing.
The Cardinals were running all over the place in this game and had the Black Sox completely confused. Stealing, hit and runs and taking extra bases......pure hustle is what won this game.
With a 3 nothing lead in the 4th, YA was looking to add more. Werner doubled to lead off the inning, his 2nd of the game. Stender hit a ground ball to SS as Werner was stealing 3rd, and Werner just kept running and scored on the play. Perlich, courtesy running for Stender, promptly stole 2nd and scored on a Maschke single, where Maschke ended up on 3rd after a couple Carver misques. The next batter K'ed on a ball in the dirt and Maschke hustled home on the throw to first which retired the batter.
Gieseke had a 2 RBI game and Werner scored twice to go with his 2 doubles.

Coors Light Rd 1....YA 7, Monty 0 6-8-07
Troy Kohls was the story of this game. The current Pitcher of the Year for the CRVL was in dominant form and threw his best outing of the year, taking a no hitter into the 7th and final inning against Montgomery before a bleader with 1 out did him in.
YA took the lead by putting 1 up in the first when Kostecka drove a ball deep to left field, which was caught for an out but scored Gieseke from third.
YA added another in the 3rd on a pretty double steal, executed perfectly by Chet Maschke and Jeff Arnold, who scored on the play.
The Cardinals put the game out of reach in the 5th with 5 more runs. Maschke delivered a 1 out, bases loaded single which plated 2 runs. Gieseke got HBP to load them up for Franck, who slapped one into the right field corner for a bases clearing double.

Nimrod weekend (2 wins) 6-2-07
Nimrod game.....YA came from behind to beat Nimrod after the Gnats took the lead a 7-6 lead in the 3rd and won 12-7.
Adam Kostecka had a good performace, starting and going the 1st 4 innings, allowing 3 runs. Jeff Arnold picked up the win in relief, pitching 3 innings of shutout ball, k'ing 6.
Leadoff batter, Perlich, scored right away, getting on base by error, stealing 2nd and scoring on a Buesgens single. Later in the inning with YA leading 2-0, Franck drove his 4th homer of the year into the pine trees beyond the right field fence to give YA a 4-0 advantage.
YA scored 2 in the 2nd, 1 of them coming from Arnold's 1st sac fly of the game.
YA tied the game in the 4th, when Buesgens was forced home on a bases loaded walk.
Cardinals used 3 consecutive singles and another Arnold sac fly to score 3 in the 5th, to put it away for good.
YA used 2 doubles and another Arnold sac fly to bring home 2 more in the 7th.
Buesgens was 4 for 4 with 2 walks and 3 RBI's. Arnold had 3 RBI's, each one from a sac fly.
Staples game.........Jon Werner single handedly beat the Legionairres, throwing a complete game shutout, hitting a leadoff homer to start the game, doubling twice and scoring all 3 times he went to the plate.
Brandon Stender added yet another 2 hit game, with 2 runs and 2 RBI's.
Weekend highlights........#5) Perlich stays hot with 3 hits and 5 runs; #4) Werner was 4 for 4 with 3 doubles and a homer; #3) Jeff Arnold has 4 RBI sac flies on the day; #2) Buesgens went 5 for 5 with 2 walks and 4 RBI's before getting out on a deep line drive to the warning track in his last at bat; #1) After homering and doubling, Franck struck out against rookie Nimrod pitcher, Paul Funk, who was in his 1st ever stint on the hill in town team ball. Paul also singled earlier off of Jeff Arnold as a pinch hitter. By the way, Paul is 13 years old......the fan and players from both teams all went berzerk!

YA 3, Glencoe 0 5-30-07
YA had to outsmart the Brewers to take home a win on Wed nite, beating the Crew 3-0.
The outsmarting began with putting the wiley veteran, Nik Franck, on the hill. Franck kept the potent Glencoe offense off balance and off the boards the entire game, throwing a 4 hit shutout. Only 1 runner made it past 1st base and 2 of the 4 runners were picked off of first. Franck only threw 84 pitches and was 2 over the minimum.
Fellow Bethany Lutheran allum, Steve Marsden was just as good for Glencoe, allowing 4 hits and 1 run (pass ball) through 7 innings of work.
On the bases, YA got on the board first when Werner doubled, stole 3rd on with 2 outs and scored on the next pitch, which was a pass ball.
Brandon Stender scored the 2nd run, walking to get on. Then moved to 2nd on a wild pitch, to 3rd on a ground ball out and scored on another wild pitch.
Joel Stender scored the 3rd. He walked to get on and scored after 2 more walks and a HBP.
Brandon Stender added another 2 hit game with 2 RBI's.

YA 8, GI 2 5-28-07
Jeff Arnold had himself a whale of a game, holding the undefeated Green Isle Irish in check as well as driving in the go ahead runs in the 8th inning. The Irish bats are usually something to be reckonded with, but Arnold kept them off the bases and off the board for the majority of the game.
Jeff was well on his way to a great day through 5 innings, allowing only 4 GI baserunners. The YA defense finally found their way, making all the plays for Arnold in the field.
However, the Irish struck first with their usual brand of baseball, enticing a mental error out of YA to get it. With another runner on 3rd, the runner on first was picked off the base, inbetween 1st and 2nd bases. Having Arnold off the mound with the ball, the Irish perfectly executed a double steal as Arnold was all turned around trying to figure out which way to go with the ball.
Then YA finally got to Irish starter Nick Schatz, who had only allowed 1 hit threw 6 innings. In the 7th, the Cardinals countered with a game tying run using a little small ball to manufacture the run. Arnold and Chet Maschke, singled to start the inning. Tim Gieseke laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners over. Arnold was then knocked in with another sacrifice, as Nik Franck popped one up just far enough into left field to allow Arnold to score.
Arnold continued to keep the Irish bats at bay and the YA lineup decided to reward Jeff for his efforts with 7 runs in the 8th inning. Eric Panning started the inning with a single and Jon Werner followed him on base after getting hit by a pitch. Brandon Stender walked, loading the bases for Arnold. After a pitching change, Arnold drove the 3-2 delivery into left field, plating 2 runs. Maschke singled to load them up again for Gieseke, who drilled one back at the pitcher, which deflected off his glove and drove in another run. The rest of the runs came home when Nik Franck 3rd homer in 2 games, a grand slam, the 2nd grannie of the year for the Cardinals team.
Arnold finished his gem throwing all 9 innings, allowing 8 hits and striking out 4. But most importantly, he didn't get into any real jams, until the 9th when the game was already secure.
Arnold had 2 hits to go with his 2 rbi's and was also helped by a 5 rbi game from Nik Franck. Chet Maschke also had 2 hits for the Cardinals.

YA 22, St Boni 6 (7 innings) 5-26-07
The score tells it all about this game as the Cardinals eased its way back to .500 in Crow River League play. YA scored 12 in the 6th inning, along with plenty more in the rest. The Cardinal's bats finally woke up for this affair, banging out 22 hits and using 6 St Boni errors to talley their runs.
YA scored 3 in the 2nd, when the bottom of the lineup got things going for YA. Brandon Buesgens knocked in Tim Gieseke and Joel Stender to break it open. Buesgens later scored on a St Boni error.
Gieseke and Joel Stender also contributed RBI singles in the 3rd to drive in YA 2 runs that inning.
Jon Werner drove home the only run in the 4th with and RBI single, driving home Brandon Stender.
The 5th inning was started off with a lead off home run from Nik Franck. Justin Perlich, Jeff Arnold and Jon Werner followed later in the inning with RBI singles.
YA sent 15 batters to the plate in their 12 run 6th inning, which came after St Boni had narrowed the YA lead to 10-6. The Cardinals once again used the long ball to drive home runs as Franck bashed his 2nd of the game (a 2 run homer) and Arnold clubbed his team leading 3rd of the year, a 3 run job into the Chevy dealership.
Troy Kohls got all the run support he needed as he completed 6 innings of work, earning his first win of the year. Kohls allowed only 1 earned run and struck out 7, in a very efficient outing for the Cardinal ace.
The YA lineup all had a pretty good stat line after this game, but was led at the plate by Chet Maschke (5 for 6), Perlich (4 for 5, 3 runs, 3 rbi's), Arnold (3 for 6, 5 rbi's) and Werner (3 for 5, 5 rbi's).


Arlington 5, YA 1 5-23-07
Getting tough to come up with new material, as Cardinals continue to look horrible at plate, in field, all over. YA had just as many fielding errors (5) and mental errors (probably more than 5) as they did hits. Tim "Diesel" Gieseke scored the only run on a wacky play, where a runner was called safe on a force play, but thought he was out. Geezer scored while everyone was wondering what the runner was doing walking off the field, thinking he was out.
Brandon Stender had 2 more hits, continuing to pace himself towards a 2nd CRVL batting championship. JP Schwartz did a fine job on the hill considering his lack of defensive and offensive support.

Plato 8, YA 0 5-19-07
Brian "Boomer" Graupman is getting a new nickname in YA after the past few games. That would be Brian "Cy" Graupman, looking like Cy Young the past couple times against YA, again dominating the Cardinals. He threw 7 innings, allowing only 2 Cardinal hits, both off the bat of Brandon Stender.
The defense was the story of this game. Plato made all the plays and YA again disappointed in the field, making 5 errors. There were also numberous other plays that the Cardinals just couldn't make the play on.
Another Stender, Joel, got YA's only other hit of the game.
Jeff Arnold was the starting pitcher and had a very gutty outing, considering the help he got. His line reads: 7 innings, 10 hits, 5 walks, 8 runs, 4 earned and 9 k's.

Hamburg 5, YA 2 5-18-07
YA had the game and handed it over to the Hawks in the late innings, losing 5-2. It was a tie game going into the 8th inning, until Hamburg scored 1 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to take it home.
Troy Kohls had a solid performance on the hill, back to his old self.
The Cardinals couldn't seem to get any runs home, or get much going against Hawks ace Mike Mueller, even though he didn't have his usual dominant stuff.
Nik Franck drove home the 2 and only runs in the 3rd with a single, scoring Arnold and B Stender. Everything seemed to be going the way of the Cardinals......until Drew Gulden tie the game in the 5th with a 2 run homer to left.
The Hawks used a little small ball to score the go ahead run in the 8th. Gulden was HBP, them moved to 2nd on a sac bunt. He was later single home on a seeing eye grounder by Schwitchenberg.
In the 9th, the Hawks used a WP and an error to score 2 more, finishing the Cardinals off.
Darren Green came in after Mueller for the Hawks to pitch 3 innings of shutout ball.
For the Cardinals, Kohls almost went the distance pitching 8 2/3 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 earned runs and k'ing 7

YA 13, NG 3 (7 innings) 5-15-07
YA got their 2nd win in a row, scoring runs early and often against New G. The game was close for the first couple, but YA put it out of reach in the 4th and 5th, scoring 9 runs in the two innings.
Tim Wischnack, back off hyatus, hit a double in his first plate appearance of the year and then scored later in the inning, giving NG a 1-0 lead.
That didn't last long, as YA's first 4 batters all came around to score in the bottom of the first
Jeremy Petchel homered in the 2nd to make it 4-3.
In the 4th, Maschke, Perlich and Kraemer all scored, increasing the lead to 7-3.
In the 5th, YA sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring 6 more runs. Kraemer had a 2 RBI double, Werner a 2 RBI triple and Franck an RBI single in the inning.
Franck started and went the first 6 innings, allowing all 3 runs and K'ing 2. Arnold came in for 1 inning of relief, K'ing 2.
Werner and Kraemer had 7 RBI's and 4 hits between the 2 of them. Brandon Stender also had a 2 hit game with an RBI.



YA 13, Carver 1 (7 innings) 5-10-07
YA finally got their offense going with an 18 hit attack against Carver. The defense and pitching was also solid, contributing to a complete team win for YA, as they improve to 2-1 overall.
JP Schwartz climbed the hill for the first time this year. He eased through the first 3 innings, before tiring out a little in the 4th and allowing 1 run and 3 walks. Jon Werner came in relief of Schwartz to collect the win, with 3 hitless innings.
The Cardinals threated to break the game open in the 2nd, leaving the bases loaded. Nik Franck finally got YA on the board with an RBI single in the 3rd, following by an RBI double from Eric Panning and an RBI Sac fly from Chet Maschke.
YA got 3 more in the 4th, when Jon Werner delivered and RBI knock, follwing up with Franck driving home 2 with a double.
In the 5th, Bob Kraemer hit his, and the teams, first homer of the year, a solo shot over the left field fence.
In the 6th, Joel Stender collected a PH RBI single, Troy Kohls got an RBI with a Sac fly and Jeff Arnold delivered the final blow, with a grand slam.
Arnold, Werner, Franck and Kraemer all had 3 hits, while Tim Gieseke chipped in with a 2 hit, 3 run performance of his own.

Watertown 5, YA 4 5-6-07
YA gave up 3 unearned runs on 4 errors in the 4th inning and was not able to battle far enough back, loosing 5-4 on Sunday. That was pretty much the game. The Cardinals made as many bonehead plays on defense this week, as they made spectacular plays last week.
Troy Kohls started and again got off to a rough start, allowing 1 run in the first and stranding runners at the corners. Watertown added their 5th run in the 6th, when Jared Duske doubled home a run. Nik Franck retired came in for the rest of the game and retired the only 8 batters he faced.
YA didn't get more than 4 batter up in an inning until the 8th when they almost made a 2nd miracle comeback, scoring 4 runs.
Maschke and Kostecka started the eigth with infield singles. Kraemer then knocked in a run with a hard single of his own. An rbi groundout from Arnold and an RBI double from Brandon Stender got it to 5-3. Gieseke then outsmarted the Red Devils, with a high popup to the infield and the blustery conditions fooled the D enough that it dropped in and another run scored. The Cardinals loaded the bases, only to leave them stranded.
Arnold almost got another 9th inning ralley going with a 2 out double only to have the next batter retired on a weak ground ball.


YA 4, Winsted 3 (11 inn) 4-29-07
Winsted got out to an early lead when Marc Kohler scored in the first inning, then a 2-0 lead when Aaron Schultz muscled out a homer over the left field fence.
Numerous dazzling defensive plays kept the Cardinals in the game all day, which helped a pitching staff that didn't quite have their good stuff going yet. Troy Kohls was a bit shakey, but always managed to get out of the inning and held down the potent Winsted attack. Nik Franck only managed an 1 1/3 inning on the hill, and Jeff Arnold put the clamps on for the final 4 2/3 frames.
YA finally got on the board in the 4th when Chet Maschke knocked in Jon Werner with a Sac fly.
Daryl Hoof put Winsted's 3rd run on the board with a towering homer in the 7th.
In the ninth, Eric Panning started the inning off right with a single, only to have his pinch runner get double off after a line drive off the bat of Bob Kraemer was snatched.
Then the rally started. A double from Jeff Arnold and 3 straight singles from Brandon Stender, Werner and Tim Gieseke tied the game. The Cardinals finally nailed down the win in the 11th, when Adam Kostecka hit a Sac fly to score Werner.
Arnold, Werner and Panning all had 3 hits on the game. Arnold picked up the win going 4 2/3 innings allowing no runs with 3 k's.

YA at Winthrop 4-22-07
Rain out, makeup date undetermined