by Nubby Dornfeldt

 

The Brownsville 49ers grabbed the brass ring for the 2014 Rock River League by knocking off the #1 seed in the South, the Neosho Rockets, by scores of 6-3 and 2-1 with the latter going 12 innings thus keeping the Grand Championship trophy remaining in the North.

Game 1:  After a quiet first inning the 49ers jumped on Neosho starter Zach Lauersdorf for two runs in the top of the second. Back to back singles by Jace Unrein and James Goodfellow got things started for Brownsville. Mitch Beau liad down a sac bunt but the throw to first was wide and Unrein scored with Goodfellow moving to third, "Goodie" scored  on Grant Berkovitz' sac fly to center and the 49ers had a 2 run lead. Neosho answered back in their half of the second on Brad Kaul's rbi single.

Brownsville added a two spot in the fourth after Goodfellow and Beau singled, Berkovitz got hit by a pitch to load the bases. John Cetnar long fly to center plated Goodfellow and Paul Heinkel's ground out scored Beau and a 4-1 lead. The 49ers lit the scoreboard for two more runs in the fifth for a seemingly comfortable 6-1 lead but remember this is the finals! Neosho got their home crowd  fired up in the eighth after a lead-off double by Matt Beyer and a dropped fly ball to Mark Damrow. Both scored on an error and a sac fly to close the gap to 6-3. Brownsville starter Sam Wilhelms buckled down and retired the next four batters and earned the win. Wilhelms went the distance giving up the three runs on eight hits. He struck out ten while giving up one walk. Zach Lauersdorf got saddled with the loss. Ray Lauersdorf collected three hits for the Rockets while Goodfellow had a two hit day  to lead the 49ers. One down and one mor to go. On to Brownsville for the rematch.

Game #2:  Folks if you were at this game at Dale Michels Field and didn't get excited, I hate to say but you are clinically dead! A classic pitchers dual was in the making.Neosho's Dallas Bemis and Brownsville's Mitch Beau. There was high drama, close plays and a storybook ending that even a Hollywood script couldn't conjure up.

Neosho took an early 1-0 lead in the second on Dusty Jacobson's rbi single scoring Mark Damrow who singled and moved to second on an Alex Lawrence's sac bunt. Great example of fundamental "small ball". In the eighth Neosho's Zach Lauersdorf led off with a double to left. Ryan Petri struck out for out number one. Ray Lauersdorf grounded to second moving Zach to third. Derek Ninmann coaxed a walk from Beau but the ball scooted past the 49ers catcher Paul Heinkel but Heinkel got to the ball and fired to home with Beau covering to nail Lauersdorf at the plate and save a run. Now here is where the fun begins. In the bottom of the ninth the 49ers Tim Snow started the inning off with a walk. J.J. Rafliks perfect bunt sent Snow to second. Jace Unreins blistering single scored Snow to tie the game at 1. Brownsville put two runners on in the tenth but Neosho's Sean Panetti put out that fire. The eleventh had all the drama worthy of an Academy Award for Neosho. Raflik started the inning by getting walked and went to second on a wild pitch. DeBoer popped to the catcher in his attenpted bunt and with first base open Unrein was given an intentional pass. Another wild pitch moved both runners up a base so Goodfellow was intentionally walked to load the base with one out Panetti reached down for something extra and whiffed both Beau and Berkovitz to move the game to inning number twelve. The Rockets went three up and three down in the top of the frame. Here folks is where the storybook ending comes in. In the bottom of the twelfth pinch hitter Matt Bromley gets hit by a pitch. Charlie Beau lines into a double play. Snow walks and steals second to bring up Raflik.

Raflik has announced that he is retiring after this season. Raflik singled to left and scored Snow with not only the winning run but the Championship Trophy! A classic ending for a class team. Congratulations to the Brownsville 49ers and their Manager Tim Norton on their great season and I'd be remiss not to congratulate the Neosho Rockets on an outstanding year also. Panetti took the tough loss while DeBoer earned the win. Matt Beyer led Neosho with three hits while Unrein led the way for the 49ers with a pair of hits. This is the end of a fantastic 2014 "Rock" season and 2015 promises to be just as good. Hard to top a play-off series like this one. To all the fans of Rock River League baseball. spring training is just 7 1/2 short months away!