The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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    Mankato Purple 6-19-08

June 19, 2008

Purple bruise Lakeville South

Mankato smacks 24 hits, rolls to 4-3, 10-8 victories

By Josh Berhow

MANKATO — The 15-year-old Mankato Purple baseball team pounded out 24 hits and scored 14 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Lakeville South on Wednesday at Wolverton Field.

The Purple won the first game 4-3 and then took the nightcap 10-8, holding off a seventh-inning surge by Lakeville.

Adam Athey earned the win in the first game, pitching the complete-game six-hitter, giving up three earned runs to go with five walks and four strikeouts.

Athey also recorded four hits between the two games and had a pair of RBIs in each contest.

“I was seeing the ball great,” Athey said. “(The pitcher) threw at a good speed and didn’t have much offspeed stuff, so I knew what was coming.”

In the second game, the Purple took advantage of seven errors and produced 15 hits in the victory.

“Our lineup is filled with guys who can hit the ball,” said Mankato Purple head coach Andrew Garry. “It’s just a question if we’re swinging at good pitches or not.

“But we did a good job of making those errors hurt, we capitalized for the most part.”

Nick Wiemers started the second game for Mankato, and the lefty seemed to confuse Lakeville’s hitters with his offspeed pitches.

“He’s sneaky,” Garry said. “He has a real good curveball and has good movement on it. Guys haven’t been putting a good swing on it, and he’s been really effective.”

Wiemers was cruising through Lakeville’s lineup throughout the game, giving up one earned run on four hits after six innings. However, Wiemers gave up three straight hits in the seventh and then let three more batters reach without putting the ball in play.

Lakeville rallied, but its six runs weren’t enough to complete the comeback as Jack Mages came in to finish the game.

“We need to work on putting teams away,” Garry said. “Then we won’t have to worry about walks and hits in the later innings hurting us.”

Mankato (10-4) plays Friday against Woodbury in the first round of the Prior Lake Tournament.

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