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Sparger and Hommes engage in pitchers duel, Hudson walks off with the win

June 6, 2013

Steve Nielsen
Scouting Director – Wisconsin

Hudson 3, Eau Claire Memorial 2

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – In a game filled with drama, Hudson came out on top of a 12 inning affair on Thursday in the Wisconsin Rapids Sectional Semifinals, 3-2.

With Wisconsin’s No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2013 going for Eau Claire Memorial, the Old Abes and Louisville commit Jake Sparger knew they had the upper hand going into their Semifinal match up with Hudson.

This season Sparger had only allowed two earned runs in 44 innings pitched, totaling a miniscule 0.32 ERA. The 6-foot-5 right-hander also had not lost a game all year with a 7-0 record, and he wasn’t planning on losing today.

What Memorial hadn’t planned on was Hudson senior lefty Mike Hommes being equally impressive. Hommes matched Sparger pitch for pitch as the two seniors traded goose eggs for eight innings.

Both teams had their chances to score early. Memorial’s best chance came in the second inning when they left the bases loaded with one out and failed to score.

Sparger looked sharp early touching 89 mph in his first two innings with a two plane slider that proved to be untouchable for the Raiders. Hommes took a different approach to recording his outs with a crafty repertoire of changing speeds from the left side pitching off of his 74-75 mph fastball.

With score knotted at zero both teams went to their bullpen in the ninth. The Old Abes called on junior right-hander Dalton Roach to replace Sparger as he worked a perfect ninth.

In the tenth Hudson relief pitcher Stef Smith would allow a pair of Memorial runs. With runners at second and third, sophomore Sam Prissel stepped to the plate and came through with a clutch RBI single. Jake Sparger followed Prissel up with an RBI single of his own to give Memorial a 2-0 lead.

With runs coming at such a premium it looked as though Hudson faced an insurmountable deficit. However, the Raiders led off the last half of the tenth with a single by Hommes and a walk. With the tying run at first base, Roach looked as if he got Austin Evenson to fly out to center, but a misread in the outfield saw Evenson’s fly ball roll all the way way to the wall scoring both Raider base runners and tying the game at two.

After another scoreless inning in the 11th we headed to the 12th. Memorial came up empty in their half of the 12th and in the bottom half Hudson threaten with the bases loaded and two outs. Blake Amborn stepped to the plate and became the Raider hero ripping the game winning walk off single into left center.

With the win Hudson earned a spot in the Sectional Final to take on Stevens Point.

Check the Wisconsin Scouting Blog for scout notes on this game and more.

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