Opitz' Complete Game Falls Short as Mastodons Drop Game One

Friday, March 25

Fort Wayne, Ind.

12:00 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

2-11

Milwaukee

4-13

Milwaukee

IPFW

Will Faulkner went 3-5 with an RBI in the 5-4 loss

Opitz' Complete Game Falls Short as Mastodons Drop Game One

3/25/2011 4:06:45 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score

Fort Wayne, IN - A complete game from senior lefty Nick Opitz wasn't enough as the IPFW Mastodons fell to the Milwaukee Panthers 5-4 in the first of a four-game weekend series.

Posting his first complete game of the season, and third of his career, Opitz surrendered seven hits and matched his career-high with eight strikeouts in taking his third loss of the season.

Milwaukee struck first, as Doug Dekoning laced a ball through the middle of the infield to score Chad Pierce and put the Panthers up 1-0. Dekoning swiped third during the next at-bat and was driven in by catcher Paul Hoenecke on a sac fly to left field to close out a two-run Milwaukee inning.

The Mastodons would answer in the home half of inning number one. Will Faulkner and Kurt Dudley each singled from the second and third spot in the lineup to spark the IPFW rally. AJ Christensen reached on a fielder's choice on the next at-bat, loading the bases after a Panther throwing error allowed Dudley to settle in safely at second.

With the bases full of Mastodons, designated hitter Brett Clark drove in Faulkner with a sac fly to deep left, bringing the score to 2-1 before a line-out closed the inning.

Opitz went three-up, three-down, striking out the side in the top of the fourth to kick off a three-run inning for the 'Dons. Clark opened the inning on first base after an errant pitch found his hip. Leftfielder Cody Galbraith singled to right center to put runners on first and second before Nate Thomas' sac bunt moved them both over with just one down.

Third baseman Cory Miller drove a ball to shallow left-center, scoring Clark and, on the next at-bat, Brendan Landwehr tallied an RBI of his own to put IPFW up 3-2 on a liner to right-center.

Two batters later, Faulkner posted his second hit of the game with a laser down the third base line. Milwaukee's Sam Koenig was able to get to it, but unable to make the long throw to Faulkner as Miller crossed the plate for the third time in the inning.

A walk and wild pitch would end Panther starter Jordan Guth's day with 3.2 innings pitched and three earned runs to his name, as Cale Tassi entered for Milwaukee and closed out the inning with an infield dribbler with the score at 4-2 IPFW.

The Panthers would make their final rally in the top of the sixth. Three straight hits to open the inning, including an RBI single by Dekoning up the middle, sparked a three-run Milwaukee run. After a sac bunt that moved runners to second and third, Sam Koenig hit a ball deep in the hole that IPFW's Faulkner was able to stab and make the play to first on to bring another run across and tie the game at four.

Leftfielder Jonathan Capasso beat out an infield single on the next at-bat to bring home another run and take their final lead at 5-4 before ending the visitor's half of the sixth on a ground out to the pitcher.

Four consecutive three-up, three-down innings brought to offense for both sides to a halt.

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth, IPFW batters struck out and fouled out to open the inning. With two outs, Faulkner tallied his third hit of the day with a single to left center, sparking a final pitching change as Kaleb Engleke entered for Milwaukee.

After a stolen base by Will Faulkner, the lefty sidearm struck out Kurt Dudley swinging for the final out of the game to pick up his first save of the season.

Opitz took the loss to fall to 1-3 on the year. Cale Tassi picked up the win for Milwaukee after giving up just two hits in five scoreless innings of play.

Faulkner's three hits led the IPFW offense that saw RBIs from Faulkner, Brett Clark, Cory Miller and Brendan Landwehr. IPFW stranded eight base runners in the game to Milwaukee's two.

The Mastodons and Panthers will return to action for games two and three of the weekend series tomorrow (Mar. 26). First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. from Mastodon Field in Fort Wayne.

~Dons~