Sports

Bottineau Legion hopes to catch fire at Sections

By Tyler Ohmann

07/23/2013

The Bottineau Post 42 Legion baseball team wrapped up their regular season this past week with their two final section games.

On Monday Bottineau played both Burlington and Surrey splitting with the two teams in Surrey. Bottineau beat Burlington 11-1 in six innings in the first game, but fell 12-2 in six innings to Surrey in game two.

In the first game Devin Bercier took the mound for Bottineau and went all six innings, striking out five and scattering four hits.

Bottineau did well at the plate, especially in a seven-run third inning, that helped propel them to the 10-run win.

Cody Brooks went 3-for-4 with a run batted in (RBI) to lead the Bottineau offense. Christian McCloud also had a strong day with a pair of hits and two RBI. Andrew Hill and Garrett Lynnes each added hits for Bottineau.

In the second game against Surrey errors caused Bottineau some pain as they fell 12-2. Surrey put up 10 runs in the middle innings, and scored 12 on only eight hits.

Brooks pitched the complete game for Bottineau and only allowed three earned runs, while striking out five, but Bottineau had three errors, which cost them.

Ethan McCloud led Bottineau at the dish with a 3-for-3 night and drove in both of Bottineau’s runs. Zach Johnson delivered the only other Bottineau hit.

Coach Derek Aus was happy with how the top of the Bottineau lineup fared in Monday’s finale.

“In both games, the top of our lineup swung the bat very well.  It might not have always resulted in a hit, but we had productive at-bats,” Aus stated.

With the split, Bottineau finished 4-8 in section regular season play, which makes them the six seed out of seven teams. Harvey grabbed the top seed and  a first round bye.

“Harvey is probably the team to beat,” Aus stated. “They get to save a pitcher with the bye, and they have a deep lineup.”

As the sixth seed Bottineau will open the tournament against third seeded Cando, who is the host of the tournament. The game will be at approximately 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Cando, and is the final game of the first day.

Aus thinks that Bottineau can definitely play with Cando if they play to potential.

“We split with Cando during section play. I think we will hit the ball and put up some runs, but we have to make routine plays in the field,” Aus stated. “You can’t win tournament games making errors and allowing walks. We are just as much of a threat to get on a roll and win some games as any of the teams in the tournament though.”

If Bottineau wins on Wednesday they will play the winner of Velva and Burlington at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday in Cando. A loss and Bottineau plays the loser of the Velva/Burlington game at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The winner of the Section 5 Tournament advances to Legion State in Beulah on July 31-Aug. 4.