Blue Anchors Manager Makes "Grand Entrance"

Published on June 3, 2013 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Blue Anchors News Release


Al Newman touches down at the ballpark before Friday's game. The fans that came out to the Shipyard before Friday's matchup with the Duluth Huskies were in for a real treat. To the delight of the fans in attendance, the Lifelink helicopter did not pass, but touched down in the outfield delivering Blue Anchor manager, Al Newman.

"I told the staff they had to take care of my two girls if I went down," Newman laughed. "I'm sure it was fun for the fans and players and gave them something to talk about during the week." Lifelink crew member Aric Risbrudt threw out the first pitch and it was takeoff time for the Anchors third game.

After the pre-game madness, the Anchors made sure to keep the excitement going. Alexandria started the scoring in the third inning. Making his debut, Aaron Gretz (Ohio State) put the first pitch he saw out of the park for an Anchors home run. Albert Baur (Newberry) singled to drive in Andrew Sohn (Western Michigan) to double the advantage. After the teams traded runs in the fifth inning, Duluth came up with one in the 6th and three in the 7th before the Blue Anchors came up with another run on a Dalton Leuschke (Des Moines Area Community College) homer.

It stayed at 5-4 Duluth until the 9th inning when Gretz crushed a 1-2 pitch out of the park for his 2nd homer of the night. Unfortunately, the 10th inning was not as kind to the Blue Anchors as the ninth as Tyler Beck and Taylor Simpson (0-1) gave up five runs in the top of tenth.

"I like the way the guys battled, but we made too many mental mistakes," Anchors manager Al Newman said. "This is a learning process. We start a new series tomorrow, and we'll try to win every series."

A bright spot for the Blue Anchors pitching staff in the future was the first start by Michigan State pitcher Chase Rihtarchik. In his first start for the team, Rihtarchik gave up only one run on three hits. through five innings.

"He moved the ball around well. He dazzled the opposing team." Newman said of Ritharchik's outing. Making his debut, Gretz went 3-4 with a double to add two his two homers. Sohn continued his hot start on the basepaths as well, stealing his fifth base of the season.

The Blue Anchors would like to thank Lifelink for making Newman's grand entrance possible.

The Blue Anchors hit the road for a two game set with Rochester. Game one will take place at Mayo Field at 7:05pm on Saturday.

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