By John George
After a wild weekend of baseball, the HI-10 and Countryside League seasons are over and the playoffs are finally set. First round action in both leagues began on Wednesday night.
Pirates take game one
from Shockers
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Perham rallied for five runs in the top of the sixth to erase a 3-0 deficit in the first game of a doubleheader against W-DC in Wadena Sunday. They held on for a 5-4 win that secured a home game in the first round of the upcoming HI-10 playoffs.
With Detroit Lakes and Bluffton already safe as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Perham only needed one win in Wadena to secure the No. 3 seed and home field in the first round.
W-DC scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings before Perham got on the board with their big inning. Tyler Doll started the sixth by reaching on a throwing error. Ryan Borowicz was hit by a pitch before Andy Kratzke, Kevin Feldt and Eric Weller put together consecutive singles. Justin Berns and Matt Kalina pitched in with sacrifices before Matt Schornack finished the rally with a RBI single to score Weller.
Matt Schornack pitched six strong innings for the win, allowing two earned runs on four hits with five strike outs. Doll pitched the seventh for a save.
W-DC gets split
The Shockers got out to a big first inning lead and hung on for a 8-6 win in the second game of the doubleheader.
W-DC scored five runs on three hit batters, three walks and one hit in the top of the first. Perham got out of the inning with a doubleplay.
The Pirates chipped away at the lead in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs. Matt Kalina scored on an error and Kevin Feldt drove in Tyler Doll for the second run.
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W-DC scored again in the second and put two more up in the third before Perham got back on the board in the bottom of the third when Andy Kratzke drove in Ryan Borowicz to make the score 8-3. Perham cut the lead in half in the fourth when Justin Berns scored on a single my Shane Miller.
The Pirates closed to within two in the sixth on a two-run single by Doll, but they went down in order in the seventh to end the game.
Big inning sparks Pirate
win over Bertha
Perham sent 13 batters to the plate in a seven-run third inning, sparking them to a 9-5 win over Bertha last Wednesday at Krueger Field.
Already up 1-0 after Tyler Doll manufactured a run in the first, the Pirates went wild in the third to open a 8-0 lead. Matt Schornack and Doll started the inning with back-to-back singles. After a passed ball moved them up, Schornack scored when Jon Kotaska reached on an error. Ryan Borowicz followed with a RBI single and Andy Kratzke delivered a two-run double. Kevin Feldt continued the rally with a single and another error allowed Kratzke to score. Player-Manager Mike Winjum drove in the seventh run of the inning, but the rally ended with Matt Kalina getting thrown out trying to score on the hit.
Bertha chipped away, scoring a single run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to close the gap to 8-4. They scored one more in the seventh and were about to score another until a Blazer runner got caught in a run-down between third and home for the third out.
Bertha had another scoring opportunity erased to end the eighth inning as Kalina threw out a runner at home.
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The Pirates added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Kalina scored on a wild pitch.
Doll and Borowicz each had three hits to lead Perham. Kalina, Winjum and Kratzke added two hits apiece.
Luke Burgau started the game and lasted until the fifth inning. Doll picked up the win with three-plus innings of relief. Kotaska earned the save pitching the final two innings.
Angels crush Millers
In a lopsided game the D.L. Angels pounded out 18 hits and scored 16 runs against as they shutout a short handed New York Mills team last Wednesday at Jacobson Field. With only nine guys in uniform, the Millers were unable to keep pace with the Angels.
The Angels scored seven times in the third with RBI singles by Nick Omberg and Terry Haus, a two-run single by Noah Johnson, a sacrifice fly by Matt Nustad and an RBI double by Taylor Fuhs.
D.L. added two more runs in the sixth, then put the game away in the eighth with another seven-run rally.
Jordan Vaughan led the Millers with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate. Matt Olson went the distance for the Angels and picked up the win, Josh Hendrickx took the loss for New York Mills.
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The Millers went on to lose their regular season finale to Bertha, 8-4, Sunday afternoon.
Bertha scored four runs thanks to a pair of errors and a couple of walks in the second for a 4-0 lead. Mills got on the board in the third on RBI singles by Louie Rutten and Tony Meech to close the gap to 4-3.
The Blaze took advantage of another error for a run in the fourth, then put two more up in the seventh to put the game away.
HI-10 Playoff Picture
The two losses last week put New York Mills in the No. 6 seed, where they faced Perham in the first round Wednesday night. The Millers swept the season series with Perham.
The winner will take on No. 2 Bluffton in the second round on July 21 at 1:30 pm. The loser will play an elimination game Sunday afternoon.
The other half of the bracket had No. 4 Bertha taking on No. 5 Wadena-Deer Creek Wednesday night. The winner will face No. 1 Detroit Lakes on July 20.
The top-two teams advance to the Region 14C Tournament. Perham won last year's HI-10 title with Bluffton advancing as the runner-up. Perham went on to win the region tournament and advance to State.
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Countryside playoffs
The Countryside bracket will look identical to last year's playoffs. No. 4 Pelican Rapids faced Frazee in a pig-tail game Wednesday night. The winner will play at No. 1 Fergus Falls on July 20. No. 2 Vergas will play at No. 3 Dent on July 19 at 7:30 p.m.
The top-two teams in the playoffs will advance to the Region 16C Tournament, which begins Aug. 2-5. Fergus Falls and Dent advanced to last year's Region tournament. Fergus Falls finished as the 16C runner-up and advanced to State.
Amateur Baseball
July 11
Perham 9, Bertha 5
R- H- E
Bertha 0-1-0-1-2-0-1-0-0-- 5- 6- 7
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Perham 1-0-7-0-0-0-1-0-x-- 9-16- 1
WP--Doll; LP--M. Riewer
Perham--Kalina 2-4, BB, R; Schornack 1-5, R; Doll 3-5, 2B, 2 R; Winjum 2-4, 2B, BB, RBI; Kotaska 1-5, R, RBI; Borowicz 3-5, R, RBI; Kratzke 2-5, SB, R, 2 RBI; Feldt 1-4, SB, BB, R; Burgau 0-2, R, RBI.
Detroit Lakes 16, New York Mills 0
R- H- E
D.L. 0-0-7-0-0-2-0-7--16-18- 1
NYM 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-- 0- 7- 3
WP--Olson; LP--Hendrickx
D.L.--Sieling 3-5, 2 R; Kirchner 3-4, 2 R, 5 RBI; Johnson 2-6, R, 2 RBI.
NYM--Vaughan 2-3, Sac; Johnson 1-3, BB; Schultz 1-4; Hendrickx 1-2, BB; Keskitalo 1-3; Frost 1-3.
July 14
Pelican Rapids 6, Dent 1
Wadena-Deer Creek 6, Detroit Lakes 4
July 15
Perham 5, W-DC 4 (Game 1)
R- H- E
Perham 0-0-0-0-0-5-0-- 5- 8- 2
W-DC 0-0-1-1-1-0-1-- 4- 7- 3
WP--Schornack; LP--Truax.
Perham--Kalina 0-3, Sac, RBI; Schornack 1-4, RBI; Doll 1-4, R; Borowicz 0-3, HBP, R; Kratzke 2-4, R; Feldt 2-4, 2B, R, RBI; Weller 1-4, R, RBI; Berns 0-2, Sac; Miller 1-3.
W-DC 8, Perham 6 (Game 2)
R- H- E
W-DC 5-1-2-0-0-0-0-- 8- 7- 3
Perham 2-0-1-1-0-2-0-- 6-10-2
WP--T. George; LP--Burgau.
Perham--Kalina 1-2, R, RBI; Miller 1-1, BB, R; Schornack 1-4, 2B, R; Doll 3-4, R, 2 RBI; Borowicz 0-4, R; Kratzke 1-3, RBI; Feldt 1-4, 2 RBI; Berns 1-4, R; Burgau 1-3.
Bertha 8, New York Mills 4
R- H- E
NYM 0-0-3-0-0-0-1-0-0-- 4- 8- 5
Bertha 0-4-0-1-0-0-2-1-0-- 8- 8- 0
WP--Schwartz; LP--Meech.
NYM--Rutten 1-1, BB, R,RBI; Weller 2-3, R; Meech 1-3, BB, RBI; Burg 3-4, Schultz 1-4.
Vergas 7, Frazee 3
R- H- E
Frazee 1-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-0-- 3- 7- 1
Vergas 1-0-3-0-2-0-1-0-x-- 7- 9- 1
WP--Blattenbauer; LP--Dahlgren
Frazee--Heston 2-4, 2 2B, R, RBI; Heden 1-4, RBI; Hanson 1-4, RBI, Buhr 1-4, R.
Vergas--Lockrem 3-4, 3 R; Soland 1-2, 2 R; Bachmann 1-4, R, RBI; Olson 1-3; Zitzow 3-4, 2B, 3B, R, 5 RBI.
Fergus Falls 10, Bertha 4
HI-10 (Final) All HI-10
Detroit Lakes 11-4 7-3
Bluffton 9-6 6-4
Perham 8-7 5-5
Bertha 7-8 5-5
Wadena-Deer Creek 7-8 4-6
NYM 5-10 3-7
Countryside (Final) All CS
Fergus Falls 12-2 7-1
Vergas 10-4 7-1
Dent 6-8 3-5
Pelican Rapids 4-10 3-5
Frazee 1-13 0-8
