SWIPING SECOND — Blue Earth Area’s Kean Hicks (right) beats the throw to Martin County West second baseman Jacob Clarke for a stolen base during season-opening non-league baseball action Saturday at Fox Lake Sports Complex in Welcome. (Photo by Greg Abel)

WELCOME — Two major innings powered the Bucs past the Mavericks.

Blue Earth Area beat Martin County West 20-2 in both baseball teams’ opening game of the season Saturday in Welcome.

Keegan O’Brien cracked the first pitch of the game into left field for a single. O’Brien stole second, then Adam Schavey hit a hard ground ball into right for an RBI. Schavey stole second, then an error allowed Logan O’Hara to reach base and put Schavey on third.

O’Hara stole second before Anthony Carr took a walk to load the bases. Ryan Madetzke connected for a sacrifice fly before Parker Meyers brought O’Hara home with a groundout.

Two walks, two hit batters and another O’Brien single later, the Bucs led 6-0 after the top of the first.

“We were patient at the plate and made the Mavericks’ pitchers throw strikes,” Bucs’ head coach Todd Schmidtke said. “We got a lot of baserunners and got hits at the right time and ran the bases really well. We stayed aggressive the whole game. That was a good combination for us.”

The Mavericks answered with a run in the bottom of the first. Riley Kascht, Zach Anderson and Jacob Fiala loaded the bases on consecutive walks before a wild pitch allowed Kascht to score. O’Brien then worked out of trouble for the Bucs.

BEA built an 8-1 lead heading into the fifth before breaking the game open.

All nine BEA batters reached base before an out was recorded. Schavey hit two singles in the inning, while Madetzke and Luke Schonborn each added hits, O’Brien hit a one-hop double off the wall in left and O’Hara singled and homered into the parking lot.

By the time the third out was recorded, the Bucs had scored 12 runs and taken a 20-1 lead.

The Mavericks added another run in the bottom of the fifth when Kascht reached on an error, took third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

The Bucs’ bats weren’t the only team success though as BEA’s three pitchers combined for a no hitter.

O’Brien started on the mound, allowing one run in two innings worked. He walked four, hit two batters and struck out four.

Carr relieved for two innings, allowing no hits. He hit one batter, and struck out the side in the fourth.

Madetzke moved from behind the plate for the final inning on the mound, allowing one unearned run. Madetzke struck out one looking to close the game.

“It’s the first game and they had to get the rust off so to speak,” Schmidtke said. “They had to get dialed in throwing to batters instead of throwing in the gym. … The kids went out there and gave us good effort. Especially Anthony Carr and Ryan Madetzke, they went out and threw strikes.”

Freshman Tyson Thiesse started on the mound for the Mavericks, while Nick Rathman, Levi Ebeling and Kascht pitched in relief. The four MCW hurlers combined for 20 runs allowed in five innings, gave up 13 hits, issued 10 walks and hit three batters.

Kascht, Anderson and Fiala all reached base on walks for the Mavericks, while Ebeling, Cody Potts and Anderson reached after pitches hit them.

O’Brien had a double, two singles and a walk for the Bucs, while Schavey had three singles, a walk and was hit by a pitch.

O’Hara singled and homered, while Carr singled, walked and was hit by a pitch. Madetzke singled, walked, reached on an error and hit a sacrifice fly, while Parker Meyers walked twice and scored a run for the Bucs.

Kean Hicks added a single and two walks, while Schonborn singled in two runs and Warmka singled and walked twice.

Blue Earth Area (1-0) plays host to Windom at 5:30 p.m. today for its home opener. MCW (0-1) plays host to St. James Area at 4:30 p.m. today in Welcome.

BEA 620 00(12) — 20 13 1

MCW 100 00( 1) — 1 0 2

Keegan O’Brien, Anthony Carr (3, WP), Ryan Madetzke (5) and Ryan Madetzke, Cole Warmka (5). Tyson Thiesse (LP), Nick Rathman (1), Levi Ebeling (4), Riley Kascht (5) and Christian Bachenberg.

LOB–BEA 7, MCW 4. 2B–Keegan O’Brien (BEA). HR–Logan O’Hara (BEA).