The Becker Buzzards men’s baseball team split a doubleheader Sunday against Fort Ripley while the Clear Lake Lakers took seventh at Staples.
Game 1 - Becker 3, Silver Rebels 1
The Buzzards put together a great comeback in game one of the doubleheader, scoring three runs in the top of the seventh inning to win by two.
The game was a pitcher’s duel as the Rebels’ Tom Whitlock (five innings pitched) and Becker’s Jason Pfingsten (eight innings pitched) combined to strike out 13 batters.
Pfingsten was a beast on the mound, giving up just four hits and walking none.
The Rebels scored their lone run in the fourth inning. The Buzzards had numerous opportunities to score throughout the game, getting runners on base in five of the seven innings. They waited until the end to dramatically push across the three runs to pull out the big win.
In the three-run seventh, Jeff Haus drew a one-out walk and he was followed by a single by Brian Kolbinger. Deron Trovall coaxed another walk to load the bases before Tom Wenner — playing in his first game as a Buzzard — notched the tying tun with an RBI fielder’s choice. Mark Graham tallied another Buzzard run in another fielder’s choice and with two outs, Mike Doetkott delivered a huge hit to give Becker a much-needed insurance run.
“It was a nice comeback win for us,” said Manager Mark Kolbinger. “Especially to reward Pfingsten with the win after his superb performance on the mound. “Tom Wenner also came up big for us and we are looking for big contributions from him moving forward.”
Kolbinger said the Buzzards didn’t hit the ball particularly well, but they played errorless defense in the win.
Game 2 - Silver Rebels 2, Becker 0
In game two, Matt Eigen took to the mound and pitched very well, allowing just two unearned runs in the first inning before settling down and pitching a complete game in the Buzzard loss.
“Matt deserved better as he really had his curveball working,” said Kolbinger. “Our defense had a tough first inning and I could have made a couple of plays to get us out of that inning.”
Eigen’s line for the day included scattering five hits, walking two and striking out one.
“They were taking some huge swings at Matt’s curveball but they only hit a couple of balls hard the entire game,” said Kolbinger.
Offensively, the Buzzards were again anemic, managing just five hits including two each from Haus and Pfingsten. Trovall was also on base all three times with one hit and a pair of walks.
The Buzzards’ next game is July 19 when they host the Cold Spring Silver Springers. A doubleheader originally scheduled for July 5 has been rescheduled for August 15.
Clear Lake Lakers
The Lakers participated in the 1st Annual Pine Grove Diamond Classic Tournament in Staples, MN this past weekend — finishing seventh out of eight teams.
The Lakers began the weekend with a matchup against the New York Mills Millers at 10 a.m. Saturday and lost 5-1. That dropped the Lakers to the consolation bracket where they faced off against the host Staples team at 3 p.m. Staples pulled out the win by one run, 5-4.
The next morning, Clear Lake was slated to play another winless squad in the Elk River Pioneers. The Lakers pulled out the win (no score provided) to go 1-2 in the tournament.
The Long Prairie Predators won the event by beating the Warroad Muskies, 9-5 in the championship game.
Up next for Clear Lake is a game at Litchfield July 10 at 7 p.m. and a home doubleheader July 12 at 1:30 and 4 p.m. against Foley.
