The Becker Buzzards 35 and older amateur baseball team added two more quality pitching performances to the archives last weekend en route to the MSMABA Class AA state title.

The Buzzards were seeded into the top class of the tournament based on their opening victory in the bracket, and they cruised through the competition, showing dominance on the mound to score the title.

Last Saturday, it was again Tanner Bakke who worked the complete game victory in the team’s 9-0 win over the St. Peter Saints. The right-hander allowed just six base runners in the game and struck out four batters while scattering just three hits.  

The game was scoreless going into the fifth inning when Becker erupted for six runs. Steve Newman delivered a big double for the Buzzards, while leadoff hitter Calen Kirkland accomplished the rare feat of having two hits in the same inning. In all, Becker sent 12 batters to the plate in opening up the lead.  

Kirkland and Newman each had three hits for the Buzzards, who piled up 16 hits total in the game.

In Sunday’s championship game, Todd Klaers pitched a phenomenal game on the mound, going 6 innings in the team’s 9-1 championship win over Minnetonka. Jason Pfingsten worked a perfect seventh inning to finish off the title.

Klaers worked out of a couple of jams in the first two innings before settling down and retiring 12 of the next 13 hitters he faced before Pfingsten nailed the door shut.

Becker jumped ahead with two runs in the first and never looked back, scoring one in the second, three in the third and three more in the sixth to take the dominating win.

Ben Johnson was 3-for-5 with two doubles to pace the Buzzards at the plate, while Klaers, Pfingsten and Rich Petty each scored two runs apiece for the team.

Matt Marquette was solid in working back-to-back games behind the plate for the Buzzards, as his strong arm completely shut down the opposition running game.

In total, it is the team’s seventh state title in the last nine years and second championship in the “AA” large class, with the other titles coming in 2015 (D), 2017 (B), 2018 (A), 2019 (A), 2020 (AA) and 2021 (A).