LEAPING CATCH — Blue Earth Area second baseman Luke Schonborn (right) leaps to catch a fly ball during first-round Section 2AA baseball action Saturday in Blue Earth. Bucs’ shortstop Anthony Carr (middle) and centerfielder Adam Schavey assist on the play. (Photo by Kyle McAreavy)

BLUE EARTH — “When I’m done, the game’s over,” said Blue Earth Area starting pitcher Logan O’Hara.

O’Hara knew as early as the fourth inning that he was going to pitch the Bucs to their first-round Section 2AA win over the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Thunderbirds on Saturday.

And he was right.

O’Hara threw a complete game to lead the Bucs to a 10-3 win at Veterans Memorial Field in Blue Earth. Blue Earth Area plays host to Kenyon-Wanamingo at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Blue Earth.

Buc head coach Todd Schmidtke said O’Hara was confident before the first pitch.

“Logan hadn’t started a game, he was kind of our late-inning relief guy,” Schmidtke said. “He said he wanted to start today, so I said, ‘OK, we’ll try to keep the pitch count down.’ He said, ‘No, I want to pitch.’ He was out there competing and that was good to see.”

O’Hara allowed six hits and one walk, while striking out eight. The Bucs’ offense gave him an early lead by jumping out to a five-run first inning when it sent 11 batters to the plate.

Adam Schavey was hit by a pitch, then Keegan O’Brien connected on a fastball and sent it over the left-center field wall for a home run.

Anders Fering followed with a single, then reached third on back-to-back passed balls before Luke Mertens hit a ground ball and Fering beat the throw to the plate.

Kean Hicks then bunted Mertens to second before O’Hara singled through the left side of the infield to put runners on the corners.

O’Hara stole second before Ryan Madetzke sent a high hopper through the middle for two RBIs.

BEA added two more runs in the second. Hicks doubled down the right field line before O’Hara helped his own cause when he belted a two-run HR to left.

The Thunderbirds fought back with four consecutive singles in the third to score two runs, but O’Hara forced a double play to escape the inning. O’Hara didn’t allow a baserunner for the next three innings.

BEA’s offense added on in the sixth with three hits and three runs.

O’Brien singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Fering reached on an error. Noah Johnson came in to pinch run for Fering, before advancing to second on a balk, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Mertens sacrifice fly.

O’Hara singled, then courtesy runner Caleb Langager stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Madetzke single.

Lanny Bueckle led off the top of the seventh with a double for the Thunderbirds, moved to third on a groundout and took home on a sacrifice fly for GFW’s final run.

“They’re (GFW) a team that hasn’t had a lot of success this year,” Schmidtke said. “The longer you let them stay in the game, the more belief they will have that they can win. I thought it was huge that we got seven runs in the first two innings. It was pretty dramatic, too, not that many high school kids are hitting a lot of home runs, so to get two in the first two innings, I think that sent a message that we were here to win.

“That was a good team win.”

Schavey was hit by two pitches and scored a run for Blue Earth Area, while O’Brien had a single and a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs.

Fering contributed a single, two runs scored and one RBI to the Bucs’ winning performance, while Mertens scored a run and collected one RBI.

Hicks doubled and scored one run, while O’Hara collected three hits, including a home run, and scored three runs.

Madetzke contributed two hits and three RBIs to the Bucs’ cause.

GFW 002 000 1 — 3 6 1

BEA 520 003 x — 10 9 0

Logan O’Hara (WP) and Ryan Madetzke. Ike Case (LP), Alex Berkner (3) and Mikal Nordland.

LOB–Blue Earth Area 7; Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 3. 2B–Kean Hicks (BEA) and Danny Bueckle. HR–Keegan O’Brien (BEA) and Logan O’Hara (BEA). SAC–Kean Hicks (BEA). SF–Luke Mertens (BEA) and Zach Schwarzrock.