LeMars turns tables on Spencer

Spencer sophomore Tyler Greenough drives a base hit up the middle during the Tigers' Lakes Conference game against Le Mars on Monday, June 29, 2009, in Spencer.

Two days after losing to the Tigers in the Carroll Kuemper Tournament, Le Mars turned the tables on Spencer Monday at Tiger Field, scoring nine runs in the final two innings to pull away for a 14-3 win.

"Early in the game we were ready, we were making decent contact. We kept it close for a while, but things started changing when we started booting the ball around," said Spencer head coach Brian Dirkx. "When you're facing a quality pitcher like Le Mars has, you definitely can't give them extra chances."

Leading 3-2 after four innings, Le Mars piled up 12 of its 16 hits over the final three frames. The Bulldogs also took advantage of three walks and four errors during that stretch.

"It seemed like the errors multiplied there in the fifth and sixth innings. If you give up six errors, that's like giving them two extra innings for them to score runs," Dirkx said. "I'm just upset with the way we kicked the ball around, infield and outfield. We'll go right back to practice and work on the fundamentals to try to iron some of these things out."

An error and an RBI single from Bryce Dahm helped Le Mars plate two and take a 5-2 lead after five innings. Tanner Dowling drove in two more runs with a triple and Jay Penning added a run-scoring double in the sixth.

Penning earned the win on the mound, allowing five hits, walking two and striking out 13 in a complete game.

"The Penning kid pitched a great game. He had a lot of zip on his fastball. He made a couple mistakes, but not as many as we did," Dirkx commented.

Le Mars brought 11 batters to the plate and hit for the cycle as a team in the seventh, scoring six more runs on five hits. Dowling capped a four-hit, 5-RBI night with a 3-run home run during the rally.

Spencer designated hitter Matt Sterling put the Tigers on the board with his own home run leading off the bottom of the fourth. Spencer scored twice in the fourth, bringing home one more on a wild pitch as the Tigers cut a 3-0 deficit to one run.

The Tigers added their final run in the sixth on an RBI double from Tim Juza, making it 8-3 before Le Mars' seventh inning breakout.

Juza was saddled with Monday's loss, giving up five runs -- three earned -- on eight hits in five innings of work. Juza walked two and struck out seven.

Zach Carlson threw the final two innings, surrendering nine runs on eight hits. He walked three and struck out three.

"Tim pitched a good, quality game. He's not going to strike a lot of guys out, so we have to play good defense behind him," Dirkx said.

Juza went 2-for-3 at the plate with two doubles. Sterling was 1-for-2 with two runs, Tyler Greenough went 1-for-3 and Alex Johnson was 1-for-2.

Spencer falls to 8-11 overall, 4-6 in the Lakes Conference. The Tigers host Spirit Lake Wednesday in league play.