Hollanders Advance to Regions

With all other series in the CRVL playoffs already wrapped up, the game with St Boni Saints versus the Cologne Hollanders was the only game being played on Sunday. With Cologne winning game one on Tuesday and St Boni taking game two on Thursday, that means it was a do-or-die scenario for both clubs. Each team went with their starting pitcher that had won them their game earlier in the series. It was to be Saints' Tony Wischnack against the Hollanders' Zack Nelson. With Cologne already down a few guys before the game even started, it seemed hurtful when Zack had to be pulled just after two innings and just six batters due to some arm issues. What seemed like bad luck didn't hurt the Hollanders at all. Casey Clemensen followed up Zack and threw beautifully for four innings. Tony Wischnack started the game like he did Thursday night; he set down the Hollanders in the first. But it didn't take long for the Hollanders to jump out on top. The second inning started with a double by Anthony Brenner, Tim Swanson followed him up with a single, Jon Kummer brought Brenner home with a single, and Brandon Fritz drove in Swanson with a single for a two run inning. The Saints answered back with two runs in the top of the third during Casey's first inning on the mound, but that's all the Saints would get for the rest of the game as Casey and Tanner Luebke would shut down the opposing offense. The score remained two to two until the bottom half of the fifth when the Hollanders would bust it open with four runs. With one out, each Clemensen would get a single. Casey and Carter would each advance on a wild pitch. With first base open, the Saints decided to pitch to Kyle Brazil and he made them pay. Brazil roped a 1-1 fastball down the right field line that scored the Clemensens. The innings wasn't over. Anthony Brenner would draw a walk and Tim Swanson would load up the bases when he reached on an error. Kyle Twait came up big with the clutch two RBI single that scored Brazil and Brenner for the third and fourth runs of the inning. With a four run lead, the Hollanders were able to add insurance runs in the eighth. Brandon Fritz took a fastball to the back to reach first. Kraig Peterson then lined a single to left. Carter singled for the third time of the ballgame to load 'em up for Kyle Brazil. Brazil drew the walk to score Fritz. Anthony Brenner grounded out to the firstbaseman to score Kraig. Tim Swanson came up clutch by hitting a two RBI double that scored Carter and Brazil and extended the Hollanders' lead to eight runs. Tanner Luebke finished off the Saints in the top of the ninth to close out the game and secure Cologne's berth into the 2018 CRVL 7C Regional Tournament. 

This will be Cologne's first regional tournament since 2015. The Hollanders were the number eight seed going into the first round of playoffs, and since every higher seed won Cologne will remain the eight seed for regions. All games for this year's double elimination tournament are to be played at Waconia's Lion's Field. The first game of the tournament will see No. 1 Plato Bluejays versus the No. 8 Cologne Hollanders on Thursday night at 7:30pm. The entire Cologne team is playing well together and has a real good chance to make it deep into the tournament. We look forward to seeing all the orange shirts in Waconia for the upcoming games.

GA HOLLANDERS! GA HOLLANDERS! GA HOLLANDERS!