BRANCH — A new day and another game produced a much better feeling for the Manitowoc Bandits. After scuffling to an 8-2 loss to West Allis in their season-opener on Saturday, the Bandits bounced back to batter the Branch Blaze, 11-2, under sunny skies at Branch Recreational Park on Sunday. "Absolutely. No doubt," Bandits' player-manager Josh Krowiorz said about having a better feeling about Sunday's result. "We swung the bats a little bit more today — I don't know if it was better, but we swung more. I was really happy the pitchers threw well. I just didn't want to see us walking the ballpark or kicking the ball around. "We got a few cheap base hits, but we got around the bases a little bit and felt a little more like a baseball game." Manitowoc (1-1) used a six-run inning to break the game open and then turned it over to pitchers Jayme Sukowaty and Joe Christensen, who combined to strike out 19 Blaze hitters. Sukowaty threw six innings in his first start for the Bandits, allowing two runs on five hits, while fanning 11. "I just tried to go right after them right away. I don't want to walk too many batters and just throw as many strikes as I can," said Sukowaty, who walked only one in the game. "We had a week off from college, so it's nice to get back out here." Sukowaty faced the minimum nine batters through the first three innings — Paul Smith singled in the first but was erased on the basepaths — but faced a Branch threat in the fourth inning. With runners at first and third, Steve Linzmeier singled to plate a run, while Mike Brey followed with another base hit to load the bases. But Sukowaty fanned the next two batters and got out of the jam on Luke Kiel's ground ball. "(Sukowaty) was overpowering them," Krowiorz said. "He has a good fastball and was locating it really well today. He kept it down and got in and out real quick. He really pounded the strike zone." Smith singled, stole second and scored on Peter Liermann's base hit in the fifth inning to cut the Bandits' lead to 7-2, but that was as close as the Blaze would get. "It's been a year since I've swung, now this is the third game so I'm seeing it a little better," said Smith, who finished 2-for-3, was hit by a pitch and scored both of Branch's runs. "It's good to play competition like this because it gets us that much better." After mustering just five hits in Saturday's loss, the Bandits pounded out 14 hits against the Blaze with each starter tallying at least one hit and eight of the nine starters scoring at least one run. Krowiorz scored on T.C. Lee's sacrifice fly for Manitowoc's first run in the second inning before the Bandits sent 11 batters to the plate and knocked out seven hits and a sacrifice fly in a six-run third inning. "We had a good streak that inning and it's good to put up a crooked number," Krowiorz said. "In these early games, it's nice to get in a rhythm and have an inning like that to build on. … Putting up that number and having everyone run around the bases builds confidence for everybody." Krowiorz, Mike Hall, Lee, Brad Liermann and Doug Bloom all had RBI-singles in the inning, while Max Stepan drove in a run with a sacrifice fly as the bandits to a 7-0 lead. "That one inning is pretty much what did us in," Blaze starting pitcher A.J. Lorrigan said. "It was kind of disappointing. There weren't many that were hit real hard, just in front of the outfielders and over the infielders." Nat Richter and Krowiorz added RBI-singles in the sixth inning, while Stepan and Liermann — who was 3-for-4 — drove in runs in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. The Blaze (1-2) managed only one baserunner in the final three innings against Christensen — Zac Krause drew a two-out walk in the eighth — but weren't too disappointed following the loss. "One of the things we talked about at the end is that the score wasn't close, but it wasn't outrageous either, so maybe it's a little confidence boost for the team," said Lorrigan, whose team will open Shoreland League play Wednesday at Kewaunee. Added Smith: "We have pretty good hopes this year. This is my fourth year on the team and I think it's going to be our best summer." Notes: Krowiorz, Hall and Lee each added two hits in the game for the Bandits, who finished with 14 as a team. … Christensen struck out eight and did not allow a hit in his three innings of work to earn the save. … Lorrigan took the loss for the Blaze allowing 11 hits and seven earned runs in six innings. … The Bandits next game will be on Wednesday against another Shoreland League member — the Two Rivers Polar Bears. The game will be at Walsh Field starting at 7:30 p.m. Manitowoc (ab-r-h-rbi) — Blook, ss, 6-1-1-1; Richter, 2b, 5-2-1-1; Schroeder, lf, 6-1-1-0; Krowiorz, 1b, 4-2-2-2; Hall, 3b, 5-1-2-1; Spurney, rf, 3-1-1-0; Lee, cf, 4-2-2-2; Liermann, c, 4-1-3-2; Stepan, dh, 4-0-1-2; Sukowaty, p, 0-0-0-0; Christensen, p, 0-0-0-0. Totals: 39-11-14-11. Branch (ab-r-h-rbi) — Smith, cf, 3-2-2-0; Liermann, ss, 4-0-1-1; Linzmeier, 2b, 4-0-1-1; Brey, 3b, 2-0-1-0; Krause, 3b, 0-0-0-0; DePas, 1b, 4-0-0-0; Lindner, c, 4-0-0-0; Kiel, rf, 4-0-0-0; Lorrigan, p, 2-0-0-0; Otto, p, 2-0-0-0; Berres, lf, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 32-2-5-2. Manitowoc 016 002 110 — 11 Branch 000 110 000 — 2 E — Manitowoc 0, Branch 4. DP — Branch 1. LOB — Manitowoc 10, Branch 6. 2B — Schroeder, Hall. SF — Lee, Stepan. SB — Bloom, Richter, Lee, Liermann, Smith 2. HBP — Spurney (by Lorrigan), Spurney (by Lorrigan), Smith (by Sukowaty). Hits off of — Sukowaty 5 in 6, Christensen 0 in 3; Lorrigan 11 in 6, Otto 3 in 3. ER — Sukowaty 2, Christensen 0; Lorrigan 7, Otto 2. BB — Sukowaty 1, Christensen 1; Lorrigan 1, Otto 1. SO — Sukowaty 11, Christensen 8; Lorrigan 2, Otto 1. W — Sukowaty. L — Lorrigan. Sv — Christensen.

Steve Clark: From the May 25, 2009 edition of the Herald Times Reporter.