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TE ATATU - Gordon Niemann allowed five hits in eight innings and Ken Sommers hit his first double of the Summer Series season as the Wildcats topped the Angels, 14-4, on Sunday in the opening game of the Summer Series at McLeod Park.
Niemann (1-0) struck out eleven, walked one and retired the last 16 Angels in order.
"El Gordo gave us the start we needed, because we really didn't do a lot against [Angles starter] Taka [Yokota]," West City assistant manager Gareth Hooton said. "El Gordo was just outstanding and once he got the lead, I think he got tougher and tougher."
Niemann outdueled Yokota, his former West City teammate, in convincing fashion. It was the least amount of hits Niemann had allowed in any start that lasted at least seven innings. Niemann lowered his ERA to 1.13 and held opposing hitters to a .143 (6-for-42) batting average.
"I felt like I've been relatively right since the Spring Shield final, and the break had done me the world of good," Niemann said. "Obviously, experience-wise and repetition-wise, you need those outings, but for the most part for me, it's not overthrowing, it's staying in the strike zone and staying in a rhythm. I got the quick outs and the quick innings, and those are what give you a chance to pitch deep into games."
Niemann was simply dominating, something he has continued from the shutout Spring Shield final in December.
"He's got excellent ability, he's just in a good position now with his experience to start to reach his potential" Hooton said.
"[The] first couple of innings I was putting a little more effort than I did when the game progressed," Niemann said. "Coach [Alan] Lotze, told me to back off just a little bit. It gave me a little better command, a little better finesse. For me, that's something I constantly need to be aware of, not trying too hard [and catcher Matt Mills] called a good game."
Sommers came to the plate with two outs and bases loaded in the sixth hitting .350 (7-for-20), but he found the 1-1 pitch from Kaz (0-0) to his liking and crushed it to right field to give the Wildcats a 12-4 lead. Sommers' shot scored Daniel Bradley, Lawrence Lotze, and Mills, who had reached via a one-out single.
"I think it was a changeup, something like that, something soft," Sommers said of the homer. "Ask me next time, I'll tell you. Right now, I don't even know what I'm hitting, but I think that was a changeup."
Sommers wasn't the only Wildcat stepping up to the plate. Mills, Williams, Bradley and Sam Tucker all had multi-hit games, with Mills and Bradley scoring 2 RBI’s each. Sommers had 4 alone.
"I said we were going to get going, obviously that's what we did today," Sommers said. "Everybody contributed, Daniel B got a big hit and then we got two-out hits. Everybody contributed today, and then to win the Summer Series, that's what our goal is, to come out and try to win the series no matter what happens."
Bradley scored from third on a wild pitch by Yokota to draw the Wildcats level at 2-2 in the third before breaking out the whooping sticks in the fourth, stacking on six runs.
The Wildcats added four runs in the eighth on the RBI single by Bradley and 3 RBI double by Sommers. In the eighth, Sommers scored on a passed ball, and Bradley collected a one-run double to end the game.
"Mills, Bradley and Tucker had a couple of contributions and rallies, Sommers had a couple of big hits," Hooton said. "It wasn’t really until the middle innings until we really began stinging it all over the place, [but we] did a good job of finishing it off."
