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HTL: Verona forces Utica to one more game

Dennis Punzel  —  9/07/2008 11:50 pm

UTICA -- Verona wasn't ready to let the Home Talent League season end just yet. And as a result, it will try again for its first HTL title.

Verona pounded out 15 hits to beat Utica 11-5 here Sunday to stave off elimination and set up a rematch between the same two teams for the championship next Sunday in Verona.

Verona had split its first two HTL championship series games, losing to Sun Prairie and beating Middleton. Utica won its first two games over Middleton and Sun Prairie, and could've wrapped up its second HTL title with a victory over Verona.

But Verona was determined to extend the season.

"We had our hitting shoes on," said Verona manager Dale Burgenske. "I guess that's what you've got to do when you're down. Utica's at home with a chance to win the pennant, and we had our backs against the wall. I told the guys before the game that if we didn't hit today our season was going to be over."

Verona took those words to heart, but not until after spotting Utica a 2-0 lead on run-scoring singles by Matt Ellingson and Mickey Ramsen. Verona tied it with two runs in the second on four hits, three of them being infield hits.

"The roughness of the infield kind of got us ignited," Burgenske said. "We got a few bounces that went our way."

Verona didn't need many lucky bounces the rest of the way. Verona took the lead with two runs in the third, keyed by Bill Englehart's RBI single. It added another run in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Matt Peetz.

Verona then broke the game open in the fifth, when it put together four hits and three walks to score four times. The big hit was a two-run double by Derek Burgenske that stretched the lead to 9-2.

Meanwhile, Verona starter Matt Niffenegger settled down after surrendering those two first-inning runs. Utica could only manage one more run over the next five innings, and that came on a wild pitch on a strikeout that would've been the third out of the fifth inning.

"He was tremendous," Dale Burgenske said of Niffenegger. "The first inning we got down, but he showed his character. He knows he's out there for 100, 115 pitches, and he got stronger as the game wore on. It was a great effort."

Utica's biggest threat came in the seventh, when it loaded the bases with nobody out off of Niffenegger with two walks and a single. Burgenske then went to his bullpen for Mitch Staley, who got out of the jam with a double-play ball and a popup as Utica was held to just one run.

"We had our chances, but we couldn't take advantage of them," said Utica manager Dale Vike. "It's a big letdown to have a chance to win the title here at home and not get it done. But give them credit: They hit the ball today, and they beat us."

Ramsen collected three hits to lead Utica's 12-hit attack. Verona got at least one hit from eight of its nine starters, including two hits each by Zach Spencer, Justin Scanlon, Peetz, David Burgenske, Nick Krohn and Dan Koss.

"It was really a good game," said Derek Burgenske. "Everybody played well and when we needed a big play, somebody made it. It's always nice when everybody, one through nine, steps up. It was a great game that we needed to win, and it's going to be a great game next week, too."

Dennis Punzel  —  9/07/2008 11:50 pm