Arlington breaks away for regional win

Arlington wasn't getting any breaks the first 4½ innings of its American Legion baseball Great Lakes Regional opener Thursday afternoon in Menominee, Mich.

But Arlington (44-10) finally broke into the hit column with Matt Serna's one-out single in the fifth and eventually broke away to an 11-1 victory in 7 innings over Apple Valley, Minn. (42-12).

"The first couple of innings were kind of slow and we were kind of a little nervous," said leadoff man Tim Churchill, who went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. "After that (Serna's hit) we kind of kept going and things started falling for us.

"We knew they were going to fall sometime and it happened in the fifth."

No. 9 hitter Matt Lorenz went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI for Arlington, which went two-and-out in the regional last year. Arlington plays at approximately 8 p.m. today against Norchester, Pa. (35-13), a 19-5 winner in 8 innings over host Menominee (18-20).

All the support was welcome but not fully necessary for Scott Winters (9-3), who has been Arlington's tough-luck pitcher this summer. The left-hander needed only 85 pitches for a 7-hitter with 7 strikeouts and no walks.

"It was definitely my most efficient start of the summer," Winters said. "My location was right on today. I wanted to challenge them and make them beat me and I didn't want to beat myself."

Apple Valley took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Tim Scanlan, who had a spectacular day defensively at third base, followed Serna's single with another single.

With two outs, Billy Smith, Lorenz and Churchill delivered RBI singles.

"I thought it was going to be one of those games where we hit line drive after line drive and we're not going to get a run," said Arlington coach Lloyd Meyer.

"I was really on edge the first couple of innings," Winters said. "Once we scored 3 runs I knew we were fine."

Arlington broke it open with a 7-run sixth as Serna, Matt Gamber, Lorenz and Churchill had RBI singles. Jason Ganek had a sacrifice fly and Andrew Butkus and Kyle Gaedele had bases-loaded walks.

"We played well," Meyer said. "Everybody picked everybody up."

Meyer said he would probably start ace Trace Ruffie (11-2) on five days rest tonight.

"We joked about it," Churchill said of avoiding last year's quick exit, "that at least we're here another day."