The Becker Buzzards opened up league play with a double header at home against the Alexandria Clippers Sunday afternoon. 

 

In game one, Alexandria took advantage of seven Buzzard errors to win by four.  

 

The game started well as one of the new Buzzards — Tanner Bakke — took the mound and had a 1-2-3 first inning.  

 

In the bottom of the inning, the Buzzards got on the board with two runs as Steve Newman led off with a double, followed by a Rich Petty single and a Jason Pfingsten double.  

 

In the bottom of the third, the Buzzards added another run with a two-out rally as Newman, Petty and Pfingsten all singled to make the score 3-0.  

 

The wheels fell off in the fourth as three Buzzard errors led to three unearned runs to tie the score.  

 

The Clippers broke the game open with four more runs in the top of the sixth and again the Buzzard defense did most of the damage with two more errors.  

 

The Buzzards added a run in the bottom of the inning when Mike Doetkott singled and scored Jim Schmitz to crawl within three. However, the Clippers added an insurance run in the top of the seventh and set the Buzzards down in quick order in the bottom of the inning to secure the win.

 

Bakke was the hard luck loser, despite allowing only one earned run.  Newman, Petty, and Pfingsten each had two hits in the game.

 

Buzzards 10, Clippers 0

Game two went much better for the home team as the Buzzards got some timely hitting, great fielding, and a dominate pitching performance in the five-innings mercy rule game.  

 

The Buzzards got off to a quick start with four runs in the bottom of the first on a combination of hits by Petty, Schmitz and Matt O'Neill.  A walk to Pfingsten and a Clipper error led to the four runs.  

 

After a scoreless second, the Buzzards put four more runs on the board in the bottom of the third when Craig Hern led off with a single, followed by a Schmitz double.  After walks to Doetkott and Amos Blomquist loaded the bases, Jason Baune lined a three-run double down the right field line to push the lead to 8-0.  

 

A hit by pitch and walk put two runners on for the Buzzards in the fourth and a throwing error allowed a run to score to go up 9-0. Schmitz single to plate the 10th and final run. 

 

Pfingsten was masterful on the mound, pitching five scoreless innings and allowing only two hits.  He was helped by two spectacular plays in the field by shortstop Hern that took hits away from the Clippers.  Schmitz finished with three hits.

 

“Overall, it was a good day of baseball for the Buzzards”, said new manager, Baune.  “Our bats looked really good and both Bakke and Pfingsten threw great games.  We have a little work to do defensively, but we should be able to clean that up as we get some more games in.”

 

Veteran Buzzard Deron Trovall added, “We'll continue to look for leadership from some different guys as we try to make up for the loss of former manager Mark Kolbinger, who has decided to dedicate more of his time to working on his lumberjack skills.”

 

The Buzzards will have a busy schedule for the rest of July and August. Their next games are on the road  Saturday afternoon in Cold Spring, taking on the defending state champion Silver Springers for a doubleheader at noon and 2 p.m.

 

They return home July 23 to face the same Cold Spring team for another two-gamer at noon and 2 p.m. 

 

July 29, they travel to Alexandria for two more game against the Clippers (noon and 2 p.m.) to close out the month.

 

Aug. 5, the Buzzards play in the Central Minnesota League Round Robin Tournament at Cold Spring at 10 a.m. and noon.

 

The first round of the state tournament is Aug. 19-20 at a location to be determined. The second round is Aug. 26-27.