Lunkers suffer shutout

It was a dispiriting night at the ballpark for the Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers on Thursday. The snake-bitten team fell victim to a series of unfortunate events in a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Battle Creek.

The frustration started before the game even started, as a downpour over the lakes area threatened to wash out the game. The Lunkers insisted the game would be played despite a foreboding forecast. The club needed an inspired effort from the undermanned ground crew to make the field playable.

The game finally started at 7:50 exactly 45 minutes after the scheduled first pitch.

Things didn't go well from there.

Battle Creek 6, Lunkers 0

The key: Lunkers starter Brad Mergen walked four and allowed three runs in a nightmare first inning.

Attendance: 598

Second-half records: Brd 11-13, BC 12-13

Next: Brainerd at Rochester 6:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Lunkers starter Brad Mergen - either offset by the delay or experiencing difficulty in getting his footing on a damp mound could not find the plate.

Mergen walked the first three batters he faced, loading the bases. Assistant coach Shane Gunderson bolted from the dugout for a meeting of the minds in hopes of settling the young left-hander. But Mergen, an Indian Hills Community College freshman from Albany, could not be salvaged.

He immediately gave up a two-run single to cleanup hitter Joe Van Meter. Two batters later, a Mike Murphy sacrifice bunt scored the inning's third run. Mergen walked the next batter, drawing the ire of Lunkers manager Ryan Levendoski and ending his night prematurely.

Mergen's final line: 2/3 of an inning, one hit, four walks, three earned runs. He threw 10 strikes and 20 balls.

The Lunkers' batters, perhaps realizing it wasn't going to be their night, immediately went into shutdown mode with help from Bombers starter Dan Holcomb.

Holcomb tossed six scoreless innings and struck out four. James White and James Wernke finished off the shutout out of the Battle Creek bullpen.

Lunkers right-handed reliever Charley Henderson, who was activated on July 26, pitched five-plus scoreless innings before running out of gas in a three-run Bombers seventh inning. The Lunkers committed two errors in the inning, taking Henderson off the hook for any strain on his earned run average.

The death knell of that particular inning was Chris Lewis' two-run double to the centerfield fence.

Henderson went 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs none of which were earned on five hits and no walks.

Seth Wickens (2-for-4) was the only offensive player of note for Brainerd.

The Lunkers have now lost eight of their last 11 games.

Battle Creek 300 000 300 6 8 2

Brainerd 000 000 000 0 5 4

Battle Creek: Dan Holcomb, James White (7),

Brainerd: Brad Mergen, Charley Henderson (1), Bret Severtson (8)

WP: Holcomb. LP: Mergen.

3B: Chris Lewis (BC)

S: Matt Miraldi (BC)

RBIs: Larry Perry (BC), Lewis 2 (BC), Joe Van Meter 2 (BC), Mike Murphy (BC).

DP: Brd 1, BC 1

LOB: Brd 9, BC 7

T: 2:44