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Although the Pipestone Area baseball team suffered another setback in its push for higher seeding for the upcoming Section 3AA tournament, bowing out to St. James 6-0 and 4-3 (suspended) in a Big South Conference doubleheader Friday in St. James, the Arrows (4-8), positive strides were made versus the Saints.
“We had opportunities against their ace in the opener, Merrick (Heidebrink) had three hits, Trevor (Chauslett) two and… we had hits,” Pipestone Area head coach Ryan Koopman said. “We made adjustments in facing the lefty the second time through the lineup and continued to hit the ball; unfortunately for us, our drives – to the right side of the field – were at them most of the time. We did what we were supposed to do, but they were in the right positions to make the plays.”
Kellen Johnson suffered the loss in the opener, giving up five earned runs on nine hits while striking out four, walking seven and hitting four batters. The PAS defense, which has struggled throughout the campaign, played well behind Johnson for the most part, committing two harmless errors.
“We didn’t boot it around, but we walked some kids and Kellen hit four batters,” Koopman said. “So, we played fairly clean defensively, and that’s a good sign.”
Kellen Johnson and Landon Quist also had hits for the Arrows in the opener, while Chauslett, (run, SB), Quist (RBI), Jackson Melcher (RBI) and Kellen Johnson (RBI ) had hits in the suspended nightcap that didn’t get out of the second frame. Weston Reinhard and Heidebrink had stolen bases for the Arrows in Game 2.
Sophomore Joe Kor hurled two frames for the Arrows in the nightcap, giving up four earned runs on five hits; he had no strikeouts, and walked no one.”
“Joe came in and threw strikes,” Koopman said. “They (Saints) can hit the ball, but Joe didn’t shy away from throwing over the plate. He did a good job for us.”
The Arrows, who have just one BSC victory on the season will get some time off between Tuesday night’s (May 9) conference game versus Windom and Saturday’s BSC doubleheader against Blue Earth in Pipestone.
R-T-R 12, MACCRAY 2
LQPV 6, R-T-R 1
The Knights earned a split in their Camden Conference clashes during the week, besting the Wolverines Monday night in Ruthton after bowing out to the Eagles Thursday night in Madison.
Aiden Wichmann gave up no earned runs on one hit over five frames versus the Wolverine; he struck out nine and walked five in picking up the victory on the bump.
Blake Christianson fueled the R-T-R offense with a home run and three RBI, while Isaac Dagel (double, RBI), Chase Christianson (2RBI) and Drew Chandler (RBI) each finished 2-for-3. Aiden Wichmann (double) and Cody Wichmann each had a hit and an RBI. Gabe Elton also had an RBI for the Knights against the Wolverines.
Elton suffered the pitching loss against the Eagles Thursday evening, giving up three earned runs on six hits; he struck out three and walked three over 2.1 frames. Chandler (3.1) closed out the tilt on the mound, giving up no runs on one hit while striking out four and walking two.
Chase Christianson had the lone RBI for the Knights with his fifth-inning drive, while Aiden Wichmann, Dagel, Blake Christianson, Chandler and freshman Tyler Wichmann had hits in the contest.
The Knights will visit Tracy Thursday evening to square off against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in Camden Conference action.
MACCRAY 001 01 – 2 1 5
R-T-R 263 01 – 12 9 0
R-T-R 000 010 0 – 1 6 2
LQPV 042 000 X – 6 7 3
