Plymouth starting pitcher Harrison Michels scattered five hits over five innings to earn the win. (photo by Ed Wright)

Dual Threat

Plymouth's Nadratowski shines at the plate and in the field in 6-3 victory

BY ED WRIGHT
April 21, 2010, 11:30 p.m.

  Within a matter of moments Wednesday afternoon, Plymouth's Mike Nadratowski gaveth and tooketh away.

  The junior center fielder gave the Wildcats a 6-3 lead in the fifth inning of their KLAA South Division battle with Livonia Churchill when he stroked a towering, opposite-field three-run shot over the left-center field fence.

  When the Chargers threatened in the top of the sixth inning by putting runners on first and second with no outs, Nadratowski went horizontal to grab a quickly-dropping liner by Churchill's Andrew Loudon.

  Plymouth relief pitcher Jackson Burdette retired the next two hitters and cruised through a 1-2-3 seventh to earn a save in the Wildcats' 6-3 triumph.

  The Wildcats improved to 1-2 in the KLAA South Division standings and 4-4 overall.

  The second game of the double-header was suspended in the third inning with Churchill leading 1-0. It will be continued Thursday afternoon at Plymouth's field.

  Plymouth starting pitcher Harrison Michels survived a shaky start to earn the win.  The junior settled down after yielding three runs in the first two innings, blanking the Chargers over his final three innings of work. Michels surrendered five hits and three walks while striking out three.

  Churchill jumped out to a 1-0 first-inning lead when Sean Servalish ripped a one-out  triple down the right-field line and scored one batter later on a Wildcat fielding error.

  The next batter, Christian Leathley, singled, but Plymouth extinguished the rally with a smooth 6-4-3 double play.

  The hosts evened things up a 1-1 in their half of the first when Richard Guglielmi doubled, stole third and scored when Nadratowski grounded out to second.

  The Chargers regained a 3-1 lead in the second inning when Stephen Foster opened the frame with a single and Loudon drew a one-out walk. They both scored  on Nathan Belyk's two-out double up the right-center field gap.

  Plymouth knotted things up in the third when Zach Yokom led off with a double and scored on Guglielmi's one-out two-bagger. Two batters later, Matt Priebe delivered a clutch, two-out RBI single to plate Guglielmi.

  Michels was in a Major League groove from innings three through five, limiting the Chargers to just a pair of walks and a  Leathley single.

  That set the stage for Nadratowski's heroics in the bottom of the fifth. After Ben Wohl led off with an infield single and Guglielmi reached on an error, Nadratowski ripped a Tad Evans fastball over the left-center field fence to make it 6-3.

  Burdette threw two strong innings of relief to pick up the save.

  Guglielmi paced the Wildcats' nine-hit attack with a pair of doubles and three runs scored.

  Leathley and  Foster registered two-hit games for the Chargers.

Pinch-runner Phil Emminger scores a run for the Wildcats. (Ed Wright photo)