Tigers outlast opponents in slugfests

Vernon named GPAC and Region IV Player-of-the-Week

Andy Dygert
News Editor
April 22, 2004, Page 6

Windy days and energized players turned the Tiger baseball team’s games into sessions of home run derby this past week. The Tigers and their opponents combined to smash 26 long balls as the Tigers won three out of four games.
Both games against Concordia Sunday went into extra innings. The first game went to eleven innings, finally coming to a close when senior Marcus Schmidt hit a home run in the top of the eleventh and then Concordia left two runners on base in the bottom of the inning. The final score was 8-7.
“It was tiring but it was totally a team effort,” senior co-captain Bourke Bowen said. “They came back on us but we never believed we would lose the game.”
The second game of the day turned into an eight inning hitting duel. Doane came out on top 14-10 by sparking a four run rally in the top of the eighth and shutting down Concordia again in the bottom half of the inning.
The Tigers won their first game against Morningside in dramatic fashion on Saturday. After Morningside sunk the Tigers into a 6-2 deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning, junior Eric Fuehrer gave life back to his team with two outs with a 3 run homer to make the score 6-5. Two straight doubles following Fuehrer’s hit tied the score. Then freshman Mitch Vernon stepped up and drove a towering hit over the left field scoreboard for a walk-off, game winning home run to make the final score 8-6.
“He (Vernon) is a young man who’s willing to do what he’s told and you can see the results,” Head Coach Jack Hudkins said.
Vernon, who hit two home runs during the game, explained what happened.
“My first two at bats I struck out on curve balls,” he said. “So I was looking for a curveball there at the end and he threw me one.”
In their celebration the Tigers appeared to forget that they had another game, and Morningside made them pay, run-ruling the Tigers by a score of 15-4 in six innings. Morningside walloped four bombs in the contest to walk away with the easy victory.
“I don’t understand it,” Hudkins said. “After coming back like that in the first game. They just embarrassed us as a team.”
Vernon was recognized as the Great Plains Athletic Conference and Region IV Player-of-the-Week after batting .579 over six games with five home runs and 14 RBI’s.
The Tigers’ next games start at 1 p.m. Saturday in Sioux Falls.