Sunday afternoon, the Becker Bandits amateur baseball team pounded out 18 hits en route to a 15-3 win over the Clearwater River Cats in a Sauk Valley League playoff semifinal matchup. With the win, Becker advances to Saturday’s (today’s) league championship game against the Sartell Muskies, while Clearwater will face the Monticello Polecats in the third place game. Both teams have secured a spot in the upcoming Regional playoffs via their league playoff performance, with their respective seedings determined by outcome of the final playoff games.

In Sunday’s win, Becker’s bats were alive all day, as they scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning to take the lead when Nolan Reiter and Dalton Fouquette both singled and eventually scored.

Clearwater roared back to take the lead with three runs in the bottom of the second, but that would be all the scoring the River Cats could muster as Becker starting pitcher Cam Fischer settled in and worked the complete game, seven inning victory by facing 35 batters and scattering seven hits, walking seven and striking out three.

Becker took the lead back in the third inning with a pair of runs, and then in the fourth inning they sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven runs to chase Cats’ starting pitcher Cody Thiery from the game. Andy Nefs came on in relief and was greeted by a pair of Becker singles as the Bandits extended their lead.

Mitch Louden had a pair of hits in that inning for Becker, as the Bandits had seven hits overall and were also aided by a pair of Clearwater errors.  Defensively, the Cats had four errors in the game while Becker didn’t boot a single ball.

The Cats were led offensively by Jack Grell, who was two-for-four with an RBI.

The Becker offensive stars were many, with Reiter, Kreeden Blomquist, Fouquette, Ryan Groskreutz and Louden all amassing three hits apiece.  Reiter was also a terror on the base paths, as he swiped three stolen bases.

Quarterfinals

Becker made it to Sunday’s semifinal matchup by upsetting the St. Joseph Joes a day earlier in the quarterfinals, 3-2.

Becker scored lone runs in the first, third and sixth innings, while the Joes scored their two in the third inning.

The game winning run came in the sixth with two outs, as Fouquette hammered a 1-0 count pitch over the fence to give Becker the win.

Jackson Thorn was three-for-four for the Bandits, who also received great efforts on the mound.

Weston Schug started and went six innings, scattering seven hits and allowing just two earned runs.  Matt Moe came in next and slammed the door, earning the save with his three innings of one-hit ball.

Clearwater reached the semifinal matchup with their own quarterfinal victory, an 8-1 win over Clear Lake. The River Cats scored two in the 2nd before erupting for five runs in the fourth inning to take the commanding lead.

They also pounded out 13 hits, while the Lakers had a good day at the plate with 10 hits.

Jon Afield led the Cats with a three-for-four performance, including a double and three RBI.

Zeus Schlegel, Sam Schlegel, Tyler Carper and Preston Schlegel each had two hits for the Cats.

Bryan McCallum was sharp on the mound, going eight innings and yielding a single earned run  with nine strikeouts before Luke Welle finished up the game.

The Lakers’ season ended a day later in a 5-1 loss to St. Joe.