Sports
Bottineau wins set them on top of section
Tyler Ohmann
07/10/2012
Recording two more sectional wins the Bottineau Legion baseball team has climbed atop the section standings at 9-2.
Bottineau beat Surrey 4-3 on Tuesday and Burlington 11-0 on Thursday to take that section lead.
First on Tuesday Bottineau hosted Surrey (2-6) and had their hands full as Surrey pitching made it tough for the Bottineau batters.
“Brady Schwan pitched for Surrey and did an outstanding job of keeping our hitters off balance,” said Bottineau coach Derek Aus. “But the kids didn’t panic and played hard to the end and executed really well in that last inning.”
Bottineau trailed 3-1 entering the seventh inning, but didn’t skip a beat as they received two bunt fielder’s choices to score twice. A final suicide squeeze bunt by Lee Schneider scored the game-winner as Mark LaCroix slid under the tag for the winning run.
Bottineau has been coming from behind quite a bit this summer, something that Aus is definitely glad the team is capable of.
“You like to get off to a good start and play ahead to put pressure on the other team, but it is nice to know that the kids will respond if they are in that situation,” Aus said.
Justin McCloud went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Taylor Milbrath also had two hits in the win.
Andrew Hill was on the hill for Bottineau to start and pitched the first three innings before LaCroix came in and closed out the game.
In the second game, a non-sectional five-inning contest Bottineau again became the victors.
Bottineau fell behind early as Garrett Lynnes got into a little trouble and allowed four runs in the first three innings.
However, Bottineau bounced back with two runs in the third and six more in the fourth to capture an 8-5 victory.
Hunter Braaten went 2-for-2 on the day to lead the Bottineau bats. Cody Brooks was also perfect at the dish, going 1-for-1 with a double.
Bottineau then traveled to Surrey to take on Burlington in a doubleheader.
In the first game, which counted for the section record Bottineau was on top of their game, securing an 11-0 win in mercy-shortened, six-inning win.
Devin Bercier pitched a gem of a complete game, allowing only four hits and striking out four. Aus was impressed with not only Bercier’s ability to pitch to contact, but the superb defensive effort behind him.
“Bercier pitched really well, and he kept people off balance,” Aus said. “He got the Burlington hitters to hit into three double plays, and that compliments our defense as well.”
Success at the plate also came easy for Bottineau in the win as they scored multiple runs in four of the six innings in the game.
Among the leaders for Bottineau were Hill and McCloud, who each scored three times and had two hits a piece.
Brooks also came up big in the sixth inning as he hit a solo home run.
Things went the way of Burlington in the second game, which did not count for sectional standings.
Bottineau held a 4-2 lead entering the fifth inning, but reliever Brooks allowed three runs in the final frame to give Burlington a 5-4 win.
McCloud, Hill, Bercier and Brooks scored the four Bottineau runs. Milbrath, Braaten and Brooks shared the load on the mound.
Aus is excited to be one of the top-seeded teams in the upcoming sectional playoffs, which begin on Wednesday, July 25 and will be in Bottineau.
“It is nice to be one of the top seeds, because in that first game if you can play someone not as strong it helps,” Aus said. “There is really no team that we want to play, I don’t think there is one or two teams that are going to battle it out, it will be six or seven teams.”
“It is going to be really fun and exciting,” Aus said.
Before that happens Bottineau has three more games remaining on their schedule. It starts at 5 p.m., tonight with games in Velva. They play at Harvey at 5 p.m., Friday and then close out the regular season next Thursday, July 19 at home against Mohall.
Botineau is 18-4 on the season following the 3-1 week.