Blue Earth Area outslugs Worthington; Fairmont baseball upends No. 5 Belle Plaine

Fairmont stuns No. 5 Tigers in 11-2 contest

BLUE EARTH -- The rain coming down didn't dampen the Bucs' offense.

The Blue Earth Area Bucs scored in four consecutive innings to build a 9-5 Big South Conference baseball win over the Worthington Trojans on Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Field in Blue Earth.

BEA jumped ahead 4-1 after three innings, but the Trojans fought back in the fourth.

Jake Brandner singled, Coy Turner walked and Tate Gaul attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but hustled down the line to beat the throw to load the bases.

Cooper McCoy then doubled to left for two RBIs and Danny Pavelko singled for two runs more to put the Trojans up 5-4.

The Bucs answered with four runs of their own. Keegan O'Brien got the inning started with a line drive past the Trojans' third baseman, before Adam Schavey was hit by a pitch. Anders Fering then sent a deep fly to the warning track in left-center for a double and two RBIs. Fering reached third on the throw to the plate.

Fering scored on Luke Mertens' grounder that was misplayed before Mertens moved to second on a wild pitch. Kean Hicks then hustled out an infield single before Logan O'Hara hit a grounder toward the middle. Worthington went for the out at second, but Hicks beat the toss and Mertens scored with no outs recorded for a fielder's choice.

BEA added an insurance run in the fifth when O'Brien was hit by a pitch, stole second, moved to third on a Schavey sacrifice bunt and took home on a wild pitch.

BEA got the scoring started in the second inning when Parker Meyers and Luke Schonborn walked, then Meyers scored on a Ryan Madetzke RBI single to left center.

Worthington scored its initial run in the third. Damon Schutz singled, stole second and moved to third on an errant pickoff throw before scoring on a Pavelko RBI groundout.

"After we made a couple of errors early, our defense played well," BEA head coach Todd Schmidtke said. "Anthony Carr came in at shortstop and made some really good plays, that was a couple of momentum swings for us. Anders Fering got a big hit with a two-run double. … Ryan (Madetzke) our catcher worked hard back there, Kean (Hicks) had a great outfield assist. It was a really nice team win."

Taylor Davids started on the mound for the Bucs, getting a no decision in three innings. Davids allowed four hits and four walks on the way to four runs allowed, while striking out none.

Davids escaped trouble in the second inning when a line shot went to left field, where Hicks crouched to catch it on the fly and fired to Madetzke at home for a double play, setting the Bucs up for a clean inning.

Logan O'Hara came on in relief with no outs in the third, then finished the game for the Bucs to claim the win.

O'Hara allowed three hits, one walk and one hit batter to give up one earned run, while striking out two.

O'Hara neared trouble in the fifth, but Anthony Carr made a forehand scoop of a low-bouncing grounder, tagged second and fired to first for an inning-ending double play.

"I'm very proud of our pitchers," Schmidtke said. "The rain made it a bit of a slimy mound and a heavy ball. I don't think we walked many guys and that was huge. I believe that a lot of our runs came from walks and that differential alone was probably the difference in the game."

The Bucs (12-5) play host to St. James Area for another Big South matchup at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Blue Earth. Worthington (6-10) plays host to Adrian/Ellsworth in nonconference action at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

WOR 001 400 0 -- 5 8 2

BEA 013 410 x -- 9 7 3

Taylor Davids, Logan O'Hara (4, WP) and Ryan Madetzke. Kent Lais, Tate Gaul (2, LP), Damon Schutz (5), Cooper McCoy (6) and Damon Schutz, Cooper McCoy (5), Damon Schutz (6).

LOB--BEA 8, WOR 6. 2B--Cooper McCoy (WOR), Kent Lais (WOR), Anders Fering (BEA), Luke Mertens (BEA). SAC--Adam Schavey (BEA). SF--Logan O'Hara (BEA).

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Fairmont 11, Belle Plaine 2 -- The Cardinals extended their winning streak to five in a row by upending the Class AA No. 5-ranked Tigers, 11-2, during non-league action Tuesday night in Belle Plaine.

Brendan Schmidtke went 4-for-4 with a game-best three RBIs and scored a game-high three runs, while teammate Levi Pooley went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and crossed the plate twice to pace Fairmont's 12-hit outburst.

"We were without (first baseman) Jack Kosbab today, and Brendan got the start, stepped in and got the job done for us," said Cardinals' head coach Don Waletich. "After we committed four errors early in the game, everything fell into place as we scored seven in the fifth to put the game out of reach."

Lincoln Becker and Eli Anderson each contributed two hits and one RBI to Fairmont's winning ways, while teammates Zach Jorgensen and Jackson Utermarck produced one hit and one RBI apiece. Nate Soelter added a double for the Cardinals.

Starting pitcher Jacob Crissinger allowed two earned runs on just four hits, recorded seven strikeouts and did not issue a walk in four innings of work to earn the win.

Anderson struck out four, walked two and gave up only one hit in three stellar shutout innings of relief to seal Fairmont's victory.

"Jacob and Eli really had command of their pitches and gave us the strong innings we needed to beat a ranked team like Belle Plaine," said Waletich.

Fairmont (10-7) plays host to Albert Lea at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Herb Wolf Field.

FHS 001 172 0 -- 11 12 4

BP 200 000 0 -- 2 5 0

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Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 11, Martin County West 1 -- Ike Case fired a four-hit complete game to power the Thunderbirds over the Mavericks, who committed seven errors, by the run rule in six innings during nonconference action Tuesday night in Fairfax.

Case notched six strikeouts and issued three walks in going the six-inning distance to notch the win.

Christian Bachenberg generated the Mavericks' only run by drilling an RBI double in the top of the fifth inning to plate Zach Anderson. Anderson reached on a single.

Andres Herrera went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and one RBI to top GFW, while Damien Hopp collected two RBIs on two hits.

Anderson gave up six runs -- only two earned -- on four hits, struck out four and walked three in four frames to absorb the loss for MCW.

Bachenberg allowed five runs -- just one earned -- on four hits in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Martin County West (7-10) travels to Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Friday.