Sports
Braves streak at five
Tyler Ohmann
04/24/2012
The Bottineau Braves added three more wins to their belt this past week, and have gotten to a quick start on the season with five straight wins to open the season.
“It’s been a great start, 5-0 in the region, we’ve played all region games and we haven’t really slipped up,” said senior Cody Brooks. “We’ve been pretty solid defensively and offensively.”
Brooks has been a big part of Bottineau’s success, especially the past week at the plate.
Brooks’ offensively explosive week began with a 3-for-3 performance on Monday in a 10-5 win over North Star. Brooks had two runs scored and two runs batted in (RBI) in the win.
The Braves brought in runs in every inning except for the first as the offense exploded. Senior Matt Bowers also had a fantastic night at the plate as he was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. This included a triple that was feet from clearing the right field fence for a home run.
Fellow senior Mark LaCroix came in and got the win after a bit of a rough start for senior Ging Martin, who allowed five runs in four innings of pitching.
LaCroix came in and put three goose eggs up against the Bearcats in the final three innings and also was 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI at the dish.
“It is just a great group of guys, and the senior class this year are great leaders,” Brooks said.
Bottineau and Brooks continued their hot play with a 10-0, six-inning victory over Surrey last Thursday.
The Braves jumped out to an early lead scoring three times in each of the first two innings. They added one more in the fifth and three in the sixth to impose the mercy rule on the Mustangs.
Brooks was 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI in the win, as the Braves had 10 hits in the region victory.
Also solid at the plate were Martin (3-for-4, run, three RBI) and freshman Brody Moum (1-for-2, two runs).
The Braves did not commit an error for the first time on the season, and Braves Head Coach Nate Simpson said that good defense will be key to the wins that come in.
“That’s what we need to focus on and keep getting better at is defense,” Simpson said. “We’re going to hit the ball and our pitchers are going to throw strikes, we just need to play behind them like we have the past couple games.”
LaCroix again picked up the win on the mound for the Braves.
However, it was the offense again that was the story, and Simpson is sure happy everyone is contributing.
“I got nine guys right now that are swinging the bat right now, and that is huge,” Simpson said. “We are getting production from the bottom of our lineup and that is something that we didn’t necessarily have last year.”
“It has showed early this year, we’ve had three or four games where we have scored 10 runs, and last year I can hardly remember a game where we scored 10 runs,” Simpson added.
The final win of the week for Bottineau was in a 12-0 drubbing in a make up game against Rolette on Saturday.
“It seems like we are getting better every game,” Simpson said. “Especially what I’ve been happy with in the past two three games is our defense. The last two games we haven’t had an error in the field, and our pitchers are keeping guys off the bases.”
Brooks again had a solid day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI.
He cited experience to be the reason that he, and the Braves have been successful at the plate.
“It is just experience from seeing varsity pitches and pitchers, you just have to be able to adjust to everything,” Brooks said. “(Today) the first time through we struggled to adjust to a slower speed, but the next time through we had almost one through nine hitting.”
Sophomore Andrew Hill also contributed from the plate going 2-for-3 with three runs and three RBI. Freshman Brock Hiltner and senior Justin McCloud each also had a pair of hits and an RBI.
Brooks also got the win on the mound as he tossed all five innings, allowing only one hit.
All three games were played in chilly weather. Temperatures were in the mid-30s all week, and Simpson said that does effect the players, but is happy with the way the Braves have handled it.
“We’ve played in a lot of cold weather this year, and it’s hard to stay mentally focused, because you are focused on the cold weather,” Simpson said. “But the kids have done a nice job of focusing on the game and getting things done.”
“It’s spring baseball in North Dakota, and the kids know we have to be flexible, and so far it hasn’t bothered us, and hopefully that continues on for us,” Simpson added.
Bottineau also played last night in Dunseith for another region game. The Braves will test their perfect record this week in Minot against Bishop Ryan on Thursday and against Rugby and Harvey on Saturday in Rugby.