By Bill Morgan, Staff Writer
The Becker Buzzards baseball team closed out their regular season last weekend with two wins. Sunday, they traveled to Kensington for their final doubleheader of the regular season.
Buzzards 16,
Outlaws 2
Game one started as a low scoring affair, but the Buzzards busted the game open in the later innings leading to a 14-run victory in six innings.
Becker got on the board in the top of the first inning with three straight two-out singles by Jason Pfingsten, Doug May and Todd Klaers to take a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the third, the Buzzards struck for three runs on a combination of three hits and three walks to push the lead to 4-0.
Two more runs in the top of the fourth included doubles by Rich Petty and Pfingsten to push the score to 6-0.
The Outlaws got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with two runs on three hits and a Buzzard error. However, the Buzzards came right back in the top of the fifth with four more runs. Kevin Krenz, Deron Trovall, Petty and Jason Baune all singled and scored in the inning.
The Buzzards made sure the run rule would be in effect with six more runs in the top of the sixth as the first six batters of the inning reached base and came around to score.
Tanner Bakke got the win, going all six innings and allowing six hits. Pfingsten finished with four hits and Petty, Baune and May added three hits apiece.
Buzzards 3,
Outlaws 1
Game two was a much quicker, low-scoring affair.
The Outlaws got on the board in the bottom of the third with three singles to make the score 1-0.
The score stayed there until the top of the fifth when Petty bunted for a single and stole second base. Baune followed with a bunt and the throw sailed into right field allowing Petty to score and tie the game. A double by Pfingsten scored Baune and the Buzzards had the lead at 2-1.
After a scoreless sixth, the Buzzards added an insurance run when Baune led off with a single, moved to second on a May walk, and advanced to third on a deep fly ball off the bat of Klaers. Brian Kolbinger followed with a two-out single to plate Baune for the final run of the game.
Brian Kolbinger pitched the first four innings and got the win, while Pfingsten entered in the fifth and pitched three scoreless innings to get the save.
Trovall, Petty, and Baune all reached base twice in the game.
Up Next
The Buzzards finished the regular season with an 11-2 league record and 13-4 overall. The state tournament seeding took place this week and the Buzzards hope to receive a top eight seed in the AA/A portion of the tournament.
The state tournament will take place the weekends of Aug. 18-19 and 25-26. Host sites include Belle Plaine, LeSeur, St. Peter and Prior Lake.
