The second round of the MSMABA state baseball tournament moved to the picturesque Minnesota river valley town of Jordan and the iconic Mini Met ball park this past weekend.
Millers 5, Buzzards 3
The Becker Buzzards lost by two runs in the Class A semi-final game against the hometown Jordan Millers of the MSMABA’s River Valley League Saturday afternoon in another close contest.
The game was scoreless until Jordan’s Jared Lynch led off the fourth inning with a solo homerun off of Becker starting pitcher Jason Pfingsten. The solo shot started a big inning and before the third out was registered, the Millers scored all five of their runs in the inning.
The Buzzards began their comeback in the sixth inning, loading the bases with no outs and scoring three runs. Jordan dodged a bullet as they were able to get out of the inning, leaving the tying run at second base.
Pfingsten went the distance for Becker giving up five runs on six hits, striking out four and had two hits to lead the Buzzards.
“The fourth inning was a disaster,” Co-Manager Mark Kolbinger said. “Along with the solo homerun, we committed two costly errors that scored three of Jordan’s runs.”
The loss put Becker into the third place game versus the Shakopee Chiefs, who lost 5-4 against the Rosemount Pipers in the other semi-final game Sunday afternoon.
Becker 7, Shakopee 6
In the top of the first inning, the Buzzards scored one run but had a huge opportunity dwindle when they left the bases loaded.
The Buzzards put up a crooked number in the fourth inning when Pfingsten, Craig Hern and Matt O’Neill singled to load the bases. Matt Eigen singled to score Pfingsten and Hern. Deron Trovall’s sacrifice fly to deep left field scored O’Neil from third to give the Buzzards a four-run lead.
The Chiefs rallied in the bottom of the fourth inning as they plated three runs off two singles, a double and a Becker error.
The Buzzards extended their lead when Craig Hern tripled to score base runners Jason Baune and Pfingsten. O’Neil followed with a single of his own to score Hern making the score 7-3.
Shakopee made it interesting in the seventh and final frame. With one out, the Chiefs scored three runs on three singles and two doubles to cut Becker’s lead to one. With the bases loaded, two outs and the winning run on second base, the Buzzard fans in attendance breathed a sigh of relief when third basemen Hern fielded a ground ball to throw out Shakopee pitcher, Brad Keenan to clinch a Buzzard’s 7-6 win and the third place title.
Eigen was the winning pitcher.
“This was a great win for us today”, said Co-Manager Deron Trovall. “Matt has pitched well all year but we never gave him the run support to go along with his pitching performance. He deserves the game ball.”
The Buzzard’s 2016 campaign concluded with this weekend’s playoff games and they finished 6-6 in the regular season and 2-2 in the state tournament.
Side note: Voted as one of the best townball baseball parks in Minnesota by WCCO, Jordan’s ballpark sits along the Sand Creek and is called the “Mini-Met” for its miniature resemblance of the old Met Stadium in Bloomington.
