The Becker Buzzards 35+ baseball team won the MSMABA (Minnesota Senior Men’s Amateur Baseball Association) state title last weekend in Cologne.
Following a less-than-stellar 2-10 record in the regular season, the Buzzards entered the state tournament with a lot of question marks. They’ve struggled all year to suit up a full team due to prior commitments and a rash of injuries and limped into the playoffs with a doubleheader loss to the Alexandria Classic Clippers the week before.
Becker’s strongest attribute was its starting pitching and that pitching prowess was the deciding factor in the Buzzard’s surge to the title in the playoffs.
Last week, the Buzzards got off the ground with a huge win over the Vadnais Heights Jayhawks by a score of 8-0. Jason Pfingsten practically pitched a perfect game in a one-hitter.
They followed that win with an impressive, 3-0 victory over the Twin City Bats behind the well-oiled arm of Matt Eigen.
This past Saturday, starting pitcher Brian Kolbinger went the distance in the team’s semi-final win over the Edina Grays, 11-1. Kolbinger scattered six hits while striking out three. Jim Hanson led the hit brigade, going 3-for-4 as the Buzzards collected 11 hits.
Matt O’Neill, Jason Pfingsten and Jeff Haus had two hits a piece.
With the win over Edina, Becker moved to the championship game and had to travel to Cologne, MN to take on the same Twin City Bats team they had beaten one week ago. Pfingsten once again was tasked to toe the rubber and he dominated opposing hitters. Pfingsten allowed just two singles and subsequently picking both runners off at first base.
Four hits, one walk and two costly errors by the Bats allowed the Buzzards to score all five of their runs in the third inning. That was all that was needed to clinch the Buzzards first-ever championship.
In the four tournament games, the Buzzards outscored their opponents 27-2 and committed only two errors on defense.
“Our pitching performances by Eigen, Kolbinger and Pfingsten (two games) were outstanding and the defense was flawless.” said Co-Manager Deron Trovall after the championship game Sunday. “Our defense made the plays that needed to be made to help our pitchers.”
Co-Manager Mark Kolbinger — who was unable to attend the tournament, concurred.
“I’m proud of my Buzzard teammates” he said via text on Sunday. “It’s a great day for Becker baseball”.
