Posted: June 30, 2009

Bolstered by a visit from Milwaukee Brewer infielder Craig Counsell earlier in the afternoon, the North Shore- leading Nicolet baseball team took advantage of mistakes by Counsell's alma mater Whitefish Bay and cruised to a surprisingly easy 12-2 rout of the Blue Dukes Tuesday night.

"Frank (Klode, current Nicolet assistant and former long-time Bay head coach) arranged it," Knight coach Dick Sykes said, "and everyone really appreciated it. There were no autographs. Just a real nice talk from a great guy."

The win improved the Knights to 8-2 in league play and 19-2 overall, while the Blue Dukes, who could have used Counsell this night after Tampa Bay draft choice Kevin James tweaked his knee in a rundown in Monday night's win over Grafton and was not available to pitch against the Knights, fell to 13-9 overall and 7-7 in league play.

In limited action James was hit by a pitch and drew a walk.

"It wasn't like we were in the conference race," Blue Duke coach Jay Wojcinski said. "He's basically all right, but I didn't want to take a chance with him pitching tonight. We have bigger games down the line and the key for us is to play better and better."

Which it looked like the Blue Dukes were going to do in the top of the first at Stormonth Field, as Charlie Markson and Charlie Knipper both notched RBI hits to give the Blue Dukes a 2-0 lead against Knight starter and winner Bobby Herrick.

But defensive lapses, which have been an achilles heel all season, said Wojcinski, came back to bite the Blue Dukes in the bottom of the first. Nicolet was able to tie the score on a walk to Brandon Zall, a misplayed fly ball double by Sal Maniscalco, and an error on the shortstop that was hit by Brian Huntsinger. Substitute Bay starter Michael Burns deserved a better fate.

"We gave the runs right back to them," said Wojcinski. "It's a matter of us mentally being in games. That's our biggest problem right now. Until we clear up our mental lapses, we will continue to have problems."

Maniscalco's fielder's choice groundout scored Nino Ianello in the second and gave the Knights the lead for good.

An RBI single by Rob Mayer and a wild pitch helped the Knights score two more in the fourth to make it 5-2. Bay got runners on second and third in the fifth, but Herrick got a flyout to right to end the threat.

The roof caved in on Burns and Bay reliever Joe Lucey in the Nicolet half of the fifth on the gloomy, cool night as the Knights invoked the "mercy rule" by scoring seven runs on five hits with the benefit of four walks and one costly error.

Andy Allen highlighted the frame with a moonball of a two-run homer off the roof of Stormonth School. He also brought in the last run of the game on a bases-loaded walk. Huntsinger and Sam Kohnke also had RBI singles in the inning.

"This was really surprising," Knight coach Dick Sykes said. "Usually these games are two or three-run outings at their worst. I can't remember a 10-run game playing against these guys. But it was still a good win. I knew James wasn't starting, but I wanted to get a lead and keep building it, because if they got a lead (with Burns pitching), they could have thought about bringing him (James) in late to close it out."

"It was imperative that we get the lead and build on it."

Herrick finished with six strikeouts (including the side in the second), two walks and a hit batsmen. He also induced a nifty 4-6-3 doubleplay in the fourth.

Sykes wants the Knights to string a few more efforts like this in a row.

"We control our own destiny," he said. "We don't have to worry about anything else except what's in our own backyard."