By John George
With one week left in the regular season, the HI-10 playoff picture is far from settled. The top two seeds are settled as Detroit Lakes has wrapped up the regular season title with a 10-3 record. Bluffton has also secured their position in second place with a 9-6 mark.
The final four positions won't be determined until the season's last day, June 15.
Little was settled this past week as every team battling for position split their games.
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Pirates win at Bluffton
The Perham Pirates helped their cause last Sunday with a 5-4 win at Bluffton, earning a split in the season series. Matt Schornack pitched seven solid innings, allowing four runs on five hits before yielding the mound to Luke Burgau and Tyler Doll. Each pitched one scoreless inning to shut down the Braves.
Perham started things off in the first inning as Tyler Doll drove in Matt Kalina. Kalina made it 2-0 in the second inning, driving in Andy Kratzke on an infield groundout.
The Pirates extended their lead in the sixth as Mike Winjum, Jon Kotaska and Ryan Borowicz all singled to load the bases. Winjum scored on a groundout by Kratzke, then Kevin Feldt drove in the second run of the inning on a fielders choice. Eric Weller made it 5-0 with another fielders choice, scoring Borowicz.
Bluffton got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run homer by Kyle Dykhoff. They scored two more in the seventh off Schornack before Perham's relief core shut them down.
Perham errors give Dent 4th of July win
Five Pirate errors led to three unearned runs at Krueger Field as Dent celebrated Independence Day with a 5-3 win over Perham.
Brandon Fritz gave up two runs on five hits in the first three innings. But the Dent lefthander cruised after that, allowing just three more hits over the next five innings to pick up the win. Perham scored one more run off reliever Brock Collins in the ninth and had the game-winning run at the plate before Collins closed the door on Perham.
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Fritz went 2-for-4 at the plate, including a two-run double in the sixth to put the Wildcats ahead. Collins was 3-for-4 with a run scored and Jason Hofmann scored twice for Dent.
Braves clinch second
Even with the loss to Perham, Bluffton secured their spot as the HI-10's regular season runner-up with a come-from-behind win over New York Mills on July 3 at Jacobson Field.
The Millers didn't need their bats early in the game. They took advantage of three first inning walks to take a 2-0 lead. Two more walks led to two more runs in the fourth. A solo homer by Jason Burg in the fifth and a two-run shot by Tony Meech gave New York Mills a 7-4 lead.
That's when the Braves made their comeback. They sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh, scoring eight runs to take a 12-7 lead. A RBI single by Matt Sweere tied the game before a two-run single by Dustin Geiser gave Bluffton their first lead at 9-7. Brent Weller put the game away with a three-run single to end the rally.
Mills had scoring threats in the seventh and ninth, but they weren't able to score again.
Millers stay alive
New York Mills kept alive hope of finishing out of the HI-10 cellar with a 5-3 win over Frazee on Sunday.
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Three Millers combined to shut the Flames out through eight innings before Frazee touched Jeramie Weller for three runs in a ninth inning rally.
Drew Schultz was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and an RBI to lead New York Mills.
The win gave Mills five league wins on the season, along with Bertha and Wadena-Deer Creek. The Millers are two behind W-DC in the loss column and one behind Bertha. New York Mills will finish the regular season July 15 at Bertha.
Bertha, meanwhile, will play at Perham July 11 in an important game for playoff positioning. The Pirates will follow that game with a season-ending doubleheader against W-DC on July 15 in Deer Creek.
Amateur Baseball
July 3
Bluffton 12, New York Mills 7
R- H- E
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Bluffton 0-0-1-0-0-3-8-0-0--12-11- 1
NYM 2-0-2-1-2-0-0-0-0-- 7-12- 1
WP--Weller; LP--Dunrud
Bluffton--Weller 2-5, R, 3 RBI; Geiser 0-4, HBP, BB, 2 R; Klinnert 3-4, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI; Marc Sweere 1-4, BB, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI; W. Dykhoff 0-3, Sac, RBI; Matt Sweere 2-4, SB, R, RBI; D. Geiser 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI; K. Geiser 1-4, R.
NYM--Vaughan 2-4, 2 R; J. Weller 2-5, R; T. Meech 2-3, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI; Burg 2-3, HR; A. Meech 1-4, RBI; Keskitalo 1-5, SB; Hendrickx 2-3, R
July 4
Dent 5, Perham 3
R- H- E
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Dent 0-1-0-0-1-2-0-1-0-- 5- 7- 0
Perham 1-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-1-- 3- 8- 5
WP--Fritz; LP--T. Doll
Dent--Collins 3-5, Hofmann 0-3, BB, HBP, 2 R; Fritz 2-4, 2 B, R, 2 RBI; P. Doll 1-3, BB, 2 B, R.
Perham--Schornack 2-4, R; T. Doll 2-4, RBI; Winjum 1-3, RBI; Kotaska 1-4; Borowicz 1-3; Kalina 1-3, R.
Detroit Lakes 7, Frazee 1
July 6
Fergus Falls 9, Dent 4
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R- H
FF 2-3-0-2-2-0-0-0-0-- 9-17
Dent 0-0-0-0-0-1-0-0-3-- 4- 4
WP--Kowalski;
Dent--Ronning 2-3, 2 2B, R; D. Stoll 1-3, R, RBI; Richter 1-3, 2B, RBI
July 7
Fergus Falls 13, Wadena-Deer Creek 0
July 8
Perham 5, Bluffton 4
R- H- E
Perham 1-1-0-0-0-3-0-0-0-- 5-11- 3
Bluffton 0-0-0-0-0-2-2-0-0-- 4- 5- 2
WP--Schornack; LP--K. Dykhoff
Perham--Kalina 2-5, R, RBI; Schornack 1-4; T. Doll 2-4, Sac, RBI; Winjum 2-5, R; Kotaska 1-5, R; Borowicz 1-4, R; Kratzke 2-4, R, RBI; Feldt 0-4, RBI.
Bluffton--Weller 3-4, HBP, R; Klinnert 0-4, Sac, RBI; Marc Sweere 1-4; W. Dykhoff 0-3, BB, R; K. Dykhoff 1-4, HR, 2 RBI.
New York Mills 5, Frazee 3
R- H- E
NYM 0-1-0-0-1-0-0-2-1-- 5- 6- 1
Frazee 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-3-- 3- 9- 3
WP--Hendrickx; LP--Heden
NYM--Vaughan 0-3, 2 BB, R; Weller 1-4; T. Meech 1-3, R; Burg 0-4, BB, SB, R; Keskitalo 1-3, R; Schultz 2-2, R, RBI; Ament 1-4.
Frazee--Seaberg 1-5, R; Dalgren 1-5, R; Aho 1-4, R; Heden 2-4.
Detroit Lakes 7, Vergas 6
R- H- E
D.L. 0-2-0-0-0-4-0-0-0-0-1-- 7- 7- 1
Vergas 0-1-0-2-3-0-0-0-0-0-0-- 6-13- 3
WP--Fuhs; LP--J. Stoll
D.L.--Haus 1-3, 2 R; Johnson 1-6, R; Fuhs 3-5, 2 R, 3 RBI; M. Olson 1-3, RBI; Schroeder 2-5, RBI.
Vergas--Bachmann 3-5, 2B, HR, 2 R; Hoskins 3-4, 3B, R, 4 RBI; B. Olson 2-3, 2B, R, RBI; Zitzow 1-3, R; Soland 1-5, R; J. Stoll 1-5, 2B, R.
Bertha 8, Pelican Rapids 2
HI-10 All GB
Detroit Lakes 10-3 ----
Bluffton 9-6 2.0
Perham 6-6 3.5
Bertha 5-6 4.0
Wadena-Deer Creek 5-7 4.5
NYM 5-8 5.0
Countryside All GB
Fergus Falls 9-2 ---
Vergas 9-4 1.0
Dent 6-6 3.5
Pelican Rapids 3-9 6.5
Frazee 1-11 8.5
July 11
Bertha at Perham 7:30 pm
Detroit Lakes at New York Mills 7:30 pm
July 14
Dent at Pelican Rapids 1:30 pm
D.L. at W-DC (Wadena) 7:30 pm
July 15
Perham at W-DC (Deer Creek) 1-4 pm
New York Mills at Bertha 1:30 pm
Frazee at Vergas 1:30 pm
July 18
HI-10 Playoffs TDB
