The Becker Buzzards baseball team finds itself in unchartered territory after a pair of wins last weekend in the state MSMABA tournament.  By defeating the Rosemount Pipers 2-1 and the Searle’s Bullheads 6-2, Becker finds itself in the Class AA division of the tournament for the first time in team history.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for us, as our team has won a state title at every division within Minnesota senior men’s baseball except for the largest AA class,” says Manager Jason Baune, who has been at the helm for three of Becker’s four titles. 

“Now we are just two wins away from becoming the first team in state history with five titles to be declared the champion at every level.”

Becker will play Saturday (today) at 4 p.m. versus Waconia and should they win, they will play for the championship Sunday, also at 4 p.m. against the winner of Saturday’s Alexandria versus Jordan game.  If Becker loses on Saturday, they will play for third place Sunday at 3 p.m.  All games are in Alexandria.

Getting to the big dance, however, proved to be a nail-biting experience for Becker. 

Versus Rosemount

It took extra innings Saturday evening to defeat Rosemount, as the Pipers used a great performance from its starting pitcher, Big Lake graduate Jeremy Belisle to keep the game close throughout.  But as he has done throughout the year, Becker pitcher Tanner Bakker was one step better than his opponent.  Bakke went all eight innings, scattering five hits and striking out six batters.

Rosemount took the lead with a single run in the top of the third inning and made that hold up until the bottom of the 7th inning when Becker tied it up. In that inning, Jason Wald and Rich Petty singled before Jason Pfingsten walked to load the bases.  With two outs,  Matt Koester brought home Wald on a fielder’s choice to force extra innings.

In the extra stanza, wily veteran designated hitter Kevin Krenz coaxed a one out walk and moved to second on a fielder’s choice.  With two outs, Wald stepped to the plate and hit a 2-2 pitch for a hit to the outfield. Because Krenz was running on contact, he was able to score the winning run.

For scoring the tieing run and claiming the game winning hit, Wald was named Tri County Lumber player of the game.

Versus Searle

In Sunday’s win, Becker was able to beat a 16th seeded Searle’s team who a day earlier had upset top seed Burnsville. 

Becker started out fast in the first inning, as Steve Newman and Rich Petty each had singles and Newman scored on a Chico Schroeder single to the outfield.  With two runners on and two outs, third baseman Matt Koester nailed a 1-0 pitch off the left field foul pole for a big three run home run and a 4-0 lead.

“That was a big blast for us as it gave us the early momentum,” said Baune.  “The ball echoed right off the foul pole and it turned a lot of heads at the ball park.”

Baune credited Koester’s hit with giving Becker confidence against the Searle’s pitcher who was relying on a repertoire of eephus  pitches to keep the hitters off balance.

“That could have been trouble for us, as on Saturday we faced a guy who had a very good fastball,” noted Baune.  “Sometimes that’s hard to make the adjustment the next day, but our guys battled at the plate and came up with some big hits when we needed them.”

Becker’s other big hit was a third inning, two out single from Nick Allerson that netted him a pair of RBI’s.

It was all starting pitcher Jason Pfingsten would need for Becker, as he pitched the complete game victory.  The Bullheads scored just one run in each of the first two innings, but Pfingsten settled in and faced just two batters over the minimum over the final four innings.

Baune expects Waconia to be a solid opponent Saturday, as they have one starting pitcher who is a hard thrower.

“We’re going to go up there and give it our best shot,” said Baune, who expects Bakke to start Saturday’s game.  “Tanner has earned the right to pitch in the game to get us to the championship.”