Spencer, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – The Spencer Baseball team played host to Storm Lake on Monday night for game 1 of a 2-game set this week that will wrap up the Lakes Conference slate for the season.

George Lawson got the start for the Tigers, his first appearance since June 9th. It was Brock Edwards throwing for the Tornadoes. Both pitchers traded scoreless first innings, and after Lawson fanned three in the top of the second, the Spencer Bats went on the attack in the bottom.

Larson Vulk got things started with a single, then a great night for the bottom of the lineup began as Jackson Eilts walked. Cohen Rittenhouse would single in Vulk, then a Shelton Bendlin single loaded up the bases. Jack Berends walked, bringing in Eilts to give Spencer a 2-0 lead. After Rittenhouse scored on an error, Wyatt Heying then drove a ball to the Left-Center warning track, clearing the bases with a 3 RBI double, giving the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

A quick and scoreless top of the 3rd set up Spencer to grow their lead in the bottom half with Cohen Rittenhouse picking up his second RBI on a double that brought in Jackson Eilts for his second run of the night.

Spencer struck for 4 more runs in the bottom of the 4th, with Wyatt Heying and George Lawson scoring their first runs, Jackson Eilts scoring his 3rd, and Cohen Rittenhouse not only picking up his 3rd RBI, but scoring his second run of the night.

That gave Spencer an 11-0 lead going into the 5th, an opportunity for the Tigers to end the game early.

After Lawson struck out the first two batters in the inning, Bobby Boeckman singled and eventually came around to score on a fielding error to knock the lead down to 10. The Tornadoes would need one more run to continue the game into the bottom of the 5th though, and Isaac McCormick didn’t let that happen, fielding a foul ball along the 3rd base line fence for the 3rd out and ending the game.

In the 11-1 win, George Lawson got the win for Spencer, throwing 5 innings, allowing no earned runs, striking out 8, walking 1 and giving up only 3 hits.

The loss went to Brock Edwards of Storm Lake in 2.2 innings pitched, giving up 6 hits, 7 runs, 5 earned, walking 5 and striking out 2.

The bottom of the Spencer order combined for 4 hits, 5 walks, 6 runs, and no batting outs in the win for the Tigers.

Spencer evens up their record at 8-8 on the year, and are now 5-2 in the Lakes Conference, locking up the 2nd spot in the standings.

Storm Lake will stay in 3rd, now 8-7 overall and 3-3 in the Lakes. Up next for the Tornadoes is a non-conference matchup against Algona at home on Wednesday before welcoming Spencer to town on Thursday to wrap up the Lakes Conference schedule for both teams.