Sports

Braves survive scare

By Tyler Ohmann

04/10/2012

The Bottineau Braves baseball team opened their 2012 season with a win over rival Rugby, but it didn’t come without some drama.

The Braves escaped with the 4-3 home win by holding on to a 4-2 lead heading into the seventh inning. A compounding of three errors in the inning allowed the Panthers to push across a run and draw within one.

However Bottineau’s senior ace Mark LaCroix bared down and got through the heart of the Panther lineup to clinch the Braves’ first win of the season. The final out was a diving catch by senior left-fielder Matt Bowers who came in from out in right field to make the catch on the shallow pop fly.

LaCroix pitched all seven innings for Bottineau allowing only two hits and striking out 10. He also went 2-for-3 with an RBI at the plate. All three Rugby runs LaCroix allowed were unearned, as Bottineau had five errors on the day.

Defense is something the Braves know they need to improve.

“I thought we had some really quality at bats, and our defense probably needs some work, but we’ll get there,” senior Ging Martin said. “By the time we need it, I think we’ll be really good.”

Martin was happy with the win, however, he said it should help loosen the Bottineau squad up.

“I think it is relieving,” Martin said. “We probably had some tension out there in the first game.”

“Going up against a rival like that, to win, I think it was good for the guys,” Martin added.

Bottineau struck first scoring one in the bottom of the second inning. After Rugby tied it up in the top of the third, Bottineau struck back with a two-run inning and took a 3-1 lead. They extended the lead in the fourth after a Lee Schneider RBI single.

Also doing well at the plate for the Braves were senior Cody Brooks who was 1-for-2 with a run and an RBI and sophomore Andrew Hill, who was 1-for-3 with two runs scored.

Josh Michaels was handed with the loss as he started the opening game for Rugby. Jayden Welk led the Panthers offensively with one hit in four at-bats, which drove in two runs.

Martin, a senior who transferred to Bottineau from Oregon, was pleased with his first baseball game as a Brave.

“I thought it went good,” Martin said. “The pitchers were pretty good, and the whole game was pretty smooth.”

Martin started at third base and also reached base twice at the dish as he was hit by a pitch and rapped a single. He also stole a base.

Martin was told of the rivalry with close by Rugby, but he isn’t too sure of the scope of it quite yet.

“They say it is huge, and it is probably way bigger than I even imagine,” Martin said.

Martin was also a defenseman on the Bottineau-Rugby hockey team.

The game was the first of five straight home games for Bottineau. The next is at 4 p.m., Tuesday as the Braves host Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood-Glenburn.