Aurora Christian win streak snapped
May 13, 2009By BRIAN MILLER For The Beacon News
If there were a true manifestation of gambling in baseball -- not the Pete Rose kind -- it would
be the art of the pitching change.Tuesday night's Private School League game between Aurora Christian and visiting Westminster
Christian demonstrated the managerial dilemma. Down two runs to start the seventh inning, Westminster scored three times against
Eagles reliever Andru Ubert to recapture the lead and hang on 8-7 for their 15th win in a row. "That's the story of this team,"
Warriors coach Jeff Moeller said. "It just seems like these guys never quit. They adjust well and keep going after people."Westminster
(24-7, 12-3) freshman Kevin Elder picked up the win in relief of starter Brandon Siewert, allowing just one hit while striking
out four over the final 2 1/3 innings."We made a few defensive errors that we haven't been making lately that cost us," Aurora coach Andy Zorger said. "That last kid, that freshman, was pretty
nasty with a lot of different pitches and kind of shut us down.""We probably needed to make that change earlier because (Siewert)
pitched a lot Saturday," Moeller added. "(Aurora) hit him
pretty good that one inning. For a freshman to come in and shut the door was pretty impressive."Aurora (21-9, 11-3), meanwhile,
was left with a bitter aftertaste, their 11-game win streak snapped in the process.After falling behind 5-1 in the third on
the strength of a three-run homerun from the Warriors' Steve Berglund, Eagles' starter David Zieloke responded by allowing
only one runner to reach base over the next three innings before being relieved by Ubert."I settled down on the mound and
forgot about it even though it was a big part of the game," Zielke said. "Just kept throwing strikes. Then we started hitting
the ball. I didn't lose confidence in that."The Aurora bats woke up in the bottom half with three runs on three hits -- capped
by an RBI triple to the centerfieldwallby Matt Morse.The Eagles scored three again in the bottom of the fifth behind three
doubles (Ubert, Mitch Holtz, Eric Andersen), setting up the late-inning dramatics.Zielke, over 100 pitches, allowed hits to
the first two Warrior batters, prompting Zorger to make the change."Looking back, do you take him out to start the inning?"
Zorger asked rhetorically. "He had settled in the last three innings and then got behind, gave up a hit. He was just out of
gas at the point."Holtz finished 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Eagles, while Brandon Weingartner went 3-for-4 for Westminster -- both teams ready to square off again tonight."We just
got to come back and beat them," Zielke said. "If we want to have any shot at the championship, we have to come out and prove
it." Baseball: Westminster Chr. 8, Aurora Chr. 7
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