Sports
Bottineau slides to split at home tournament
Tyler Ohmann
06/25/2013
Bottineau’s Post 42 Legion baseball team played host to three other teams this past Saturday for the Bob Pugh Memorial this past weekend.
Bottineau split their two games as they fell 5-4 in eight innings to the Renville Muskrats, but then felled Garrison-Max 12-1 in five innings in their second game.
In game one Bottineau starter Trent LaFountain fell behind early as he allowed a lead-off double, hit a pair of Muskrat batters and walked one leading to two runs.
Bottineau scored once in the first and then took the lead outright with a three inning third. The third inning heroes were Lee Schneider, who drove in two runs with a double and Cody Brooks who followed Schneider’s double with a double of his own to drive in the run to put Bottineau up 4-3.
However, the Bottineau offense was unable to push anymore runs across and the Muskrats scored one in the fifth to tie the game up.
They earned the game-winning run in the eighth on a Talon Thompson run batted in (RBI) single.
“We’re putting up runs, and we got some hits today, in the first game we didn’t push a few runs across that we should have,” said Bottineau head coach Derek Aus.
Schneider finished 2-for-4 with a triple, double and those two RBI. Brooks was 2-for-3 and Andrew Hill went 3-for-4 with a run scored in the close loss.
Game two, which was the day’s final game, went much better for Bottineau.
Bottineau jumped on the Garrison-Max Titans early, scoring three times in the first inning.
After a run scored on a wild pitch in the first inning, Bottineau starter Christian McCloud settled down and pitched four strong innings, striking out five batters and not allowing a hit.
Bottineau opened up the game in the third inning as they scored six runs to take a 12-1 lead. That would remain the final as Garrett Lynnes came in and shut down the Titans in the fifth inning, and allowed Bottineau to grab the five-inning win.
The Bottineau offense rolled in the win as eight of the nine starters scored runs in the contest. Hill and McCloud were named co-players of the game.
Both scored two runs, and Hill had a triple in the win.
Aus said that it’s still an adjustment for the players, many of whom haven’t played together before, to gel.
“They are starting to get used to each other, and it takes some games to do that,” Aus said. “We’re just trying to get good at-bats and trying to get things figured out.”
He said that Bottineau is right on the cusp of being a great team, but needs to make a few adjustments. Something he thinks they will have no problem addressing.
“We still have to work on some little things, bunting, advancing runners and things like that,” Aus said. “Some weaknesses are starting to show up, but just things that we need to work on in practice.”
Bottineau sweeps Cando
The tournament was not the only action that Bottineau had this past week. Bottineau swept Cando in a doubleheader last Monday.
In game one Devon Bercier led Bottineau on the mound to an 8-4 win. He pitched the first six innings, scattering 11 hits and allowing only four runs.
Bottineau took advantage of three Cando errors in the game two score runs in the middle innings. The third inning was particularly good for Bottineau as they drove in four runs. Hill had a double in the win and McCloud added a pair of hits in the win.
“Devon Bercier gave up a couple runs early, but he really settled in and pitched a good win,” Aus said. “We have some strong outfield play, and Christian McCloud had some good hits and had three or four RBIs, and some timely hitting.”
Bottineau won again in game two, but it wasn’t as easy. They took an early lead and held it until the top of the fifth and final inning. That’s when Cando scored four runs to tie the game at six a piece. However, a Schneider walk-off RBI hit gave Bottineau the 7-6 win in the bottom of that inning.
Hill earned the win for Bottineau in the game and also was strong at the plate with a 3-for-3 outing.
Bottineau is 3-3 overall on the season. Their next game is at 4 p.m. today as they play a doubleheader against Burlington. They also play at home on Friday against Harvey beginning at 5 p.m.