Sports

Braves win three of four against HWC, Grafton

By Matthew Semisch

05/06/2014

Although Bottineau High’s baseball team bumped its record to 6-2 Friday, Braves head coach Zach Keller came away somewhat frustrated with what he’d just seen.

A rescheduled and relocated doubleheader against Region V rival Harvey-Wells County started off well for the Braves when the games finally went ahead Friday in Rolette. The first game of the twin bill was a pitchers’ duel, but BHS eked out a 2-1 win.

Junior pitcher Luke Amsbaugh went the distance on the mound for the Braves, racking up five strikeouts in the process. HWC’s only run in the game arrived in the top of the sixth inning, but with Bottineau having scored in the first and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead, the de facto hosts’ defense held up well the rest of the way.

The Hornets’ starting pitcher, Shaun Kourajian, also put on a clinic by striking out six Bottineau batters over five and two-thirds innings.

The second game of the doubleheader didn’t go nearly as well for the Braves. HWC won that one by a 13-3 count after the game was called in the sixth inning when the Hornets went ahead by 10 runs.

Bottineau’s struggles were particularly apparent early in Game 2, as the Hornets went through their entire batting order in both of the first two innings and were up 10-0 after the third inning.

Senior Andrew Hill started on the hill in the second game but didn’t hit the mound again after the first inning and picked up the loss in his second game on the hill this season.

Bottineau knocked in three runs in the fourth inning, but the damage had already been done and it got even worse when HWC’s offense invoked the 10-rule rule with three final runs in the sixth inning.

“I thought we played really well in the first game,” Keller said, “But in the second we came out and scuffled the first couple of innings and then we got kind of behind the gun a little bit.

“I was pleased we were able to claw our way back a little bit, though, but while the first game was great, that second one was a little frustrating.”

This was the second week in a row in which the Braves had split doubleheaders. Bottineau picked up a 6-1 win over Central Prairie April 25 before being no-hit in a 3-1 loss to New Rockford-Sheyenne later in the day.

Keller suggested that this trend comes down to whether or not his team will be able to gear itself up for such situations as the season continues.

“It’s one of those things where it’s a good group of kids, but they sometimes just can’t get themselves up for both games,” Keller said. “My hope is we can find that ability within us, and if we want to go deep in our region tournament, we’ve got to be able to play multiple games in the same day like this.”

The Braves did get back on track Saturday, though, beating Grafton on the road 4-3 and 6-5 in a doubleheader.

Sophomore hurler Kellan Lagerquist picked up the win for the Braves in Game 1, while Lee Schneider was the winning pitcher in the rematch.

Grafton is commonly a force in Region IV, and Keller was pleased with his team’s ability to take both games against the Spoilers.

“Resilience was what I wanted to see,” Keller said, “And that’s what our guys showed.”