Tuesday, the #6-seeded Becker Legion team took on the #3-seeded Cambridge Legion team and came away with a 4-1 victory. Casey Vesledahl pitched a strong eight innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits while striking out seven. John Mann finished the ninth inning to earn the save. Leading hitters in the game were Cody Gruenhagen, who was 3-for-4; Matt Yoerg who was also 3--for-4 with an RBI and Clayton Gallus, who was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Tthe Bulldogs played error free and turned one double play.
Wednesday in the winners bracket, the Bulldog Legion team took on the #1-seeded Princeton squad. It turned out to be a great game that ended with Princeton coming out on top, 7-6.
Gruenhagen pitched well — throwing 7-1/3 innings, allowing six earned runs on 10 hits while striking out four.
Mann was called upon again late in the game, throwing 2/3’s of an inning and getting the team out of a jam.
Leading hitters for Becker were Eric Blomgren, who was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and two walks; Gruenhagen, who was 2-for-4 with two RBIs; Andrew Stanger, who was 2-for-5 and Gallus, who was 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Thursday, in an elimination game, the Bulldogs took on the #5-seeded Buffalo team and lost another close game, 6-4.
Mann started the game on the hill, throwing 3-2/3 innings, allowing just one earned run on seven hits while striking out three. A few defensive mistakes in the fourth inning cost the Bulldogs and allowed Buffalo to take a 6-0 lead, which was not easy to overcome.
Stanger came on in relief and pitched the next 1-1/3 innings, striking out two. Gallus finished the final three innings and struck out one.
Leading hitters in the game were Stanger, who was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI; Gallus, who was 2-for-5; Blomgren, who was 2-for-5; Tyler Thorson, who was 1-for-3 with a walk and Matt Yoerg, who was 1-for-3 with a walk.
“Overall the Becker Legion team had a nice year and appear to be the team to beat as they will return eight starters,” said Head Coach Corey Stanger. “This group should be fun to watch and hopefully make a nice run next year both in school and summer baseball.”
