Sports

Braves take care of second straight region opponent

By Tyler Ohmann

04/17/2012

An 11-1, six-inning win over the Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood-Glenburn Mavericks gave the Bottineau Braves their second win in as many games early in the baseball season.

Senior Justin McCloud tossed the complete game striking out 10 Maverick batters and allowing zero earned runs in the win last Tuesday in Bottineau.
An improved Bottineau defense had only a couple errors after committing five in the season-opening 4-3 win over Rugby.

“The first game we had some trouble with errors, but second game we picked it up defensively,” said sophomore shortstop Andrew Hill.

The big story for the Braves was their offense.
Bottineau smacked eight hits and scored in double digits off of Mavericks pitcher Adam Undlin.

“I’d say offense came out strong, and we didn’t have too many missed RBI’s in that game,” Hill said.

Leading the offensive charge was senior Mark LaCroix, who went 2-for-3 with a double.

Also heavily in the mix was freshman Brock Hiltner. The center fielder racked up three RBI in only his second game of his career on varsity.

Hill, who is the Braves lead off hitter, also scored on Tuesday. He felt like the Braves found something offensively after running into some trouble in the first game against Rugby.

“I think we just got back into the groove of baseball,” Hill said. “The first game everyone is a little nervous going up to bat. The second game everyone is a little more relaxed.”

Senior, first-baseman Josh Farmer drove in the only run for the Mavericks, who had only two hits in the loss.

The two region victories come as no surprise to the team, as they have made it to state the past two years.

Hill sees no reason that Bottineau can’t get there again.

“I guess there is a lot of expectations for us, having gone to state the past two years,” Hill said. “But we definitely have the team to go back. We just need to play how we can, and I think we’ll be good.”

Bottineau was scheduled to play Rolette in Bottineau on Friday, but the game was postponed due to rain. It is tentatively scheduled to be made up on Saturday.

The Braves next game is scheduled for Thursday at home against Surrey.

Bottineau also played a game last night against North Star, but stats and scores were unavailable at press time.