Sports

Bottineau opens legion season with pair of losses to Velva

By Tyler Ohmann

06/11/2013

The Bottineau Legion baseball team began their season last Friday with a pair of tough losses to Velva.

Despite a strong effort both on the mound and at the dish from Cody Brooks in game one, Velva managed to sneak by Bottineau in the eighth inning 7-6.

Brooks went seven innings and allowed six runs on nine hits, while striking out five.

He also went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two runs batted in (RBI) at the plate. His two RBI double in the third inning gave Bottineau a 3-2 lead.

He gave the mound over to Devin Bercier in the eighth inning with the game tied, and Bercier was stuck with the loss after allowing two hits and walking one.

“For the first game with minimal practices we did pretty well and it was good getting to know some kids’ abilities and their strengths as well,” said Bottineau coach Derek Aus.

He was especially impressed with Brooks’ performance.

“Cody Brooks had a good opening game, and we’re going to depend on him a lot at the plate and his arm too,” Aus said.

Lee Schneider had two hits and an RBI, while Bercier also rapped two hits and had an RBI.

Christian McCloud, one of several newcomers from Belcourt, had two RBI and a run scored.
Aus thinks he and other the other Belcourt players will be a great asset for Bottineau.

“He’s one of those that has a year of college under his belt, so anytime that you add an athlete like that it’s going to help your team,” Aus said. “The other guys played high school baseball, and once we get everybody on the same page, they’ll work out well. They have aggressive bats, strong arms and they should be a nice addition to our team.”

And while Bottineau had the bats ringing with 11 hits, Aus said they won’t be able to make many errors if they want to be successful this year.

“We won’t be able to make too many mistakes,” Aus said. “Offensively we will be able to put up some runs, but we’ll have to be very careful to not give up any extra runs.”

Game two was another close call as Bottineau and Velva were again close in a 7-5 Velva victory.

Velva held the lead throughout most of the game after scoring three times in the opening frame.
Bottineau made a comeback, however, as they scored five times in the final two innings, including four times in the final frame, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Velva lead.

Devin Bercier pitched and was credited with the loss in the game. Cody Brooks again had a pair of doubles for Bottineau in the loss.

Bottineau continues their season this Friday with a game at home against Burlington that starts at 5 p.m.