Ramblers unable to solve Dubuque

For the second time in three days, Key West fell to rival Dubuque, this time dropping a 3-1 decision on Tuesday night. Blues' starting pitcher Matt Asche held the Ramblers hitless through 4.2 innings on the way to a seven-inning masterpiece at Petrakis Field.

Key West (15-4) failed to record a hit until designated hitter Chad Crabill laced a line drive base hit to left field with two outs in the top of the fifth. The Ramblers scored their lone run in the seventh when Cory Davidson sprinted home from first after a throwing error by Dubuque third baseman Aaron Wulfekuhle trickled down the first base line.

Blues' second baseman Kevin Carkeek provided the big blow in the game, a two-run double to right center off of starter Ben Cottrell to score the game's first two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Carkeek finished 2-for-3 with a walk. Wulfekuhle tacked on an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI single for the game's final run.

Key West tallied only two hits off of Asche, who went seven innings and allowed no earned runs to pick up the win for Dubuque. The one run scored by the Ramblers tied a season low. Key West has managed to score a only a single run three times this season - each case resulted in a loss.

Cottrell went six strong innings but dropped his mark to 3-2 despite giving up only three earned runs in 32 innings pitched this season. Cottrell allowed five hits and three walks to go along with five strikeouts on Tuesday in a 96-pitch performance.

Tuesday's loss was the first this season in league play for the Ramblers, who will look to get back on track Thursday at Worthington in an Eastern Iowa Hawkeye League matchup. Game time is 7 p.m.

Briggs' bomb not enough; Ramblers fall to Dubuque

With his powerful left-handed swing, Chris Briggs sent a drive deep over the center field wall for a three-run homer to give Key West a 6-4 lead over Dubuque in the top of the seventh inning in Sunday's first round Farley Tournament battle. However, Dubuque would rally for four runs of its own in the bottom half of the seventh off reliever Dan Spain, eliminating the Ramblers from the tournament they captured last season.

The Blues walked off a winner after Spain's wild pitch with the bases loaded chased Brian Putnam to the plate and pushed Dubuque to the second round with an 8-7 victory. The Blues' four-run seventh-inning rally came on the heels of a five-run Key West outburst in the top of the frame, staking the Ramblers to a 7-4 advantage.

Alex Timmerman got Dubuque started in the seventh with a base hit, making him a perfect 4-for-4 on the afternoon. Spain then struck out Aaron Wulfekuhle on three pitches before a single and a hit batter loaded the bases. Putnam followed with a two-run single prior to an RBI single delivered by Seth Hoerner to knot the score at 7-7. Spain's first walk of the game loaded the bases for Aaron Saugeling, who watched the winning run cross home plate after a pitch in the dirt escaped to the backstop.

Key West (15-3) trailed by as many as four runs and entered the seventh and final inning down 4-2 against star pitcher Saugeling, who went the distance to earn the win. Matt Knabel lined out to short to begin the inning. Center fielder Tanner Denlinger ignited the rally with a double to center. Cory Davidson followed with an RBI single to get the Ramblers within a run. Spain struck out looking for the second out, but Tim Carty was then hit by a pitch to force the tying run to second base to set the stage for Briggs.

Briggs crushed the 2-0 offering well over the center field fence for his fourth home run of the season. Even with strong gusting winds that gave every fly ball to left or left center a chance to leave the yard, Briggs' shot needed no help.

Three batters later, second baseman Justin Kuhle added an RBI single to give Key West a three-run cushion. The Ramblers appeared well on their way to advancing to the second round as Spain took the mound for his second inning of relief in the seventh after retiring the top-three hitters in the Dubuque lineup in order in the sixth.

Key West did not get on the board against Saugeling until the sixth when Briggs' shallow fly to right field was dropped, scoring Davidson all the way from first. Spencer Kuehn proceeded with an RBI single to plate Briggs from third, giving the Ramblers a pair of unearned runs in the frame.

Davidson finished 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Briggs went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, two runs and three RBIs. Kuhle was the other Rambler to collect two hits, as he notched a 2-for-4 day.

Saugeling and Alex Timmerman each went deep for Dubuque. Saugeling led off the bottom of the fifth with a mammoth home run to left center off of starter Kuehn. Two batters later, Timmerman took advantage of the jet stream to left center with a pop fly that carried over the wall for a two-run shot, making the score 3-0 in favor of Dubuque. The Blues added another tally in the inning with a J.J. Reimer RBI single.

Kuehn pitched the first five innings for the Ramblers, allowing four runs (all earned), nine hits and four walks to go with three strikeouts. Saugeling gave up all seven Key West runs (five earned) in his complete game effort. He surrendered 10 hits, but sprinkled in nine punch outs.

Key West will get another shot at Dubuque on Tuesday at Petrakis Park. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. in what will be the fourth meeting already between the two rivals. The Blues have won two of the first three in the season series.

2012 Farley Tournament Bracket

2012 Worthington Tournament Bracket

Ramblers walk off to victory

An early 4-0 deficit failed to stop Key West from picking up win No. 15 on Tuesday at A.J. Spiegel Park in Peosta, Iowa. Dan Spain's hot shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth eluded the third baseman scoring Tanner Denlinger to complete the rally and give the Ramblers a 6-5 Eastern Iowa Hawkeye League victory over Rickardsville.

Key West (15-2) began the bottom of the ninth down 5-4 and appeared in serious trouble after a Kenny Capesius strikeout pinned the Ramblers down to their final out with two men on base and still trailing by a single run. Ryan Kelly then responded with a two-strike base hit to plate Ben Cottrell for the tying run. Spain followed with a smash to the third baseman, who was charged with an error, allowing the winning tally to score off of Rickardsville pitcher Jeremy Gerardy.

Behind singles by Ryan Jantsch, Eric Banwarth and Connor Grant and a key error with two outs, Rickardsville pushed across four runs in the second inning to draw first blood. Just two of the four runs scored in the inning off of starting pitcher Ryan Kelly were earned.

The Ramblers waited until the fifth inning to get on the board against Rickardsville starter Tim Felderman. After Spain reached on error with one out in the frame, Spencer Kuehn tripled home the Key West shortstop. Kuehn scored on the very next batter as Chris Briggs grounded to second base for the final tally of the fifth.

Rickardsville added a run in the top of the sixth, again with the aid of a shaky Key West defense. Kelly departed at the end of six trailing 5-2. He gave up just three hits and only two earned runs, while striking out three in his second start of the season.

The Ramblers tightened the score with single runs in both the sixth and eighth innings. RBI singles by Capesius and Briggs made it a one-run ballgame heading into the ninth.

Spain, working in his third inning of relief on Tuesday in the top of the ninth, shut down the top three hitters in the Rickardsville lineup in order to begin the pivotal frame. Spain notched his first win of 2012 by firing three scoreless innings after taking over for Kelly in the seventh. He gave up only one hit and struck out three.

Kuehn and Cottrell led the way for the 14-hit Rambler attack, each recording a 3-for-5 night at the plate. Briggs (2-for-4), Cory Davidson (2-for-4) and Kelly (2-for-6) also collected at least two hits for the victors. For much of the night, Key West was unable to take advantage of its multitude of hits, as it stranded 15 on base.

Tuesday's game marked the first home contest of the season played at Peosta. The Ramblers were 5-2 when hosting at A.J. Spiegel Park in 2011.

Key West returns to tournament action on Sunday when it plays Dubuque at 2 p.m. in the first round of the Farley Tournament. The two squads have split a pair of meetings this season.

Miscues doom Ramblers in Bellevue championship game

The Ramblers were left to wonder what could have been after a narrow 2-1 loss in the championship game of the Bellevue Tournament on Saturday. Two costly Key West miscues led to both Bellevue runs as the host held serve on its home field to claim the tournament title.

The Braves pushed across the deciding run in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs. Third baseman Chet Knake scurried home all the way from second base on a wild pitch as Key West struggled to locate the baseball. Grant Stewart, who started the play at first base, also advanced two bases on the play. Rambler starting pitcher Ben Cottrell then struck out Cooper Stewart to end the threat.

But Key West (14-2) was unable to recover from the defensive gaffe. Bellevue left-hander Justin Eissens had the Ramblers off balance all night as he went the distance, recording 12 strikeouts in the complete game victory. His biggest punch out came in the top of the seventh when Dan Spain strolled to the plate with men on first and second. Spain was sent down on strikes on three pitches.

Key West got its only run in the first inning when Spencer Kuehn knocked in Spain with an RBI single. However, the Ramblers could have easily scored twice in the frame, but Cory Davidson was called out on appeal at third base for missing the bag after he appeared to score the game's first run on a single by Spain.

After going scoreless in the first, Bellevue knotted the game in the second with the help of a Key West error. Grant Stewart led off with a double to deep center field and then advanced to third on the play after Kuehn misfired on his throw to the cutoff. Chad Coakley followed with an RBI ground out, preceding a pop out to short and a strikeout to end the inning.

Cottrell pitched plenty well enough to win, going seven innings while allowing only five hits, two walks and two runs (one earned). He finished with 106 pitches and struck out eight. Kuehn pitched a perfect eighth in relief of Cottrell to keep the Ramblers within striking distance.

But the bottom of Key West's lineup failed to mount a ninth-inning rally, going down in order against the dominant Eissens. Once again, a tournament title had eluded the Ramblers, who also lost in the championship of the Preseason EIHL Tournament to Dubuque on May 19.

Key West will look to continue its unbeaten play in 2012 league games when it hosts Rickardsville on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Peosta.

Ramblers move on to Bellevue Tournament Championship

The Ramblers equaled last season's franchise best 14-1 start on Friday by advancing to the championship of the Bellevue Tournament with a 8-5 victory over Farley. Key West is now 9-1 versus Farley in the teams' last 10 meetings dating back to last season.

Right-hander Andrew Redman improved to 3-0 on the season by going six strong innings, allowing three runs. Ryan Kelly relieved Redman in the seventh inning, getting the last three outs to end the Farley threat.

Spencer Kuehn (2-for-2) and Dan Spain (2-for-4) notched two hits apiece for the victors. Kuehn connected for his first home run this season and first in his career as a Rambler. Scott Harris (2-for-3) and Andy Seabrooke (2-for-4) starred at the plate for Farley, which cruised to an 11-3 win over Dubuque in the quarterfinal round.

Key West will look for its first ever championship at the Bellevue Tournament when it takes the field in the title game at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Hometown Bellevue, which pasted Epworth 13-2 in Friday's other semifinal, will serve as the opponent.