FERGUS FALLS -- The Perham Yellowjackets baseball team took a disciplined approach to the game last Thursday and brought home a 13-6 victory over the Otters.
Fergus Falls got on the board in the bottom of the second inning with five runs, mostly due to Perham miscues.
Zach Rangel led off the inning with a walk, followed by a misplayed fly ball to center field by Brady Hansen that resulted in a double and three Yellowjacket errors in a span of five batters contributed to the runs.
Chris Stock and Austin Hanson collected singles to contribute to the Otters scoring. Trailing 5-0 at the start of the third inning, Coach Hans Hanson reminded the team to stay disciplined at the plate and work on chipping away at the Otter lead.
Perham would respond by starting the inning with the first five batters reaching base safely. Luke Sailer drew a walk to get things started, while Gabe Pankonin was hit by the second pitch he saw. Junior Jack Stigman then hit a single to load the bases. Senior Chris Ruther hit a single to bring in Sailer and with bases still loaded Jesse Hein launched a double to left center field for two runs batted in and closing the gap to 5-3. Eric Brauch then hit a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Ruther and a wild throw on the play brought in Hein, tying the game.
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In the fourth inning, Sailer led off the inning with a single and Pankonin walked. Stigman then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position.
That series of hitters along with a long previous inning knocked starting pitcher Tim Rasmussen out of the game and brought Austin Hanson to the mound for the Otters.
Ruther then doubled to left center on the second pitch he saw from Hanson, bringing in two runs. Brauch would reach base on a hit by pitch and two more Otter errors in the field would result in two more Yellowjacket runs making the score 9-5.
The fifth inning saw the Otter defense continue to falter while Perham bats continued to hit hard line drives at them. Sailer and Pankonin would each reach base for their third times on the day, this time as a result of Otter errors.
Both players would score with Ruther drawing a bases loaded walk to bring in Sailer and Hein's RBI ground out to bring in Pankonin.
Perham scored two more runs in the sixth inning with four hits in the span of five batters. Schumacher led off with a single, followed by Ivan Nodsle, Pankonin and Stigman all singling.
For the Yellowjackets, Ruther pitched a solid game allowing just five hits in four innings of work. Mark Schumacher pitched the remaining three innings and allowed one run on one hit and struck out five.
Perham is now 5-3 and will host Pequot Lakes today, Friday, April 27.
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Perham 0 5 4 2 2 0 13 10 4
Fergus 0 5 0 0 0 0 1 6 6 5
Batteries:
Perham Chris Ruther (W), Mark Schumacher 5th and Gabe Pankonin
FF Tim Rasmussen (L), Austin Hanson 4th and Drew Reinertson
Leading Hitters
Perham
Chris Ruther 2 for 4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 1 2B
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Jesse Hein 1 for 3, 2 RBI, 1 2B
Luke Sailer 1 for 3, 3 runs, 1 RBI
