Tech scored twice in the second inning on a bases loaded walk and a fielder’s choice groundout.  The Otters answered with a run in the third inning when Ashwin Stratton plated Michael Maanum with a bases loaded single to right field.  The Tigers made it 3-1 with back-to-back doubles from Matt Schmitt and Andrew Schmitt, however, Fergus Falls pushed across a pair of runs in the fifth, tying the game.  With the score knotted at 3-3 after seven innings, the game went to extra innings.  Matt Frieson launched a solo homer leading off the eighth and added four more runs to put Tech in control, 9-3.

“The score of the first game looks way more lopsided than the actual game,” said Head Coach Kevin Pearson.  “Brock Kotschevar deserved a better fate as he pitched five solid innings.  He only gave up one earned run.  The other two runs scored because of errors his fielders made behind hm. He only allowed four hits while striking out seven and only walking two batters.”

The Otters were led at the plate by Abel Aho, Ashwin Stratton and Matthew Scott as they each collected two hits.

Cole Fronning (5IP, 9K, 2BB, 8H, 2R, 1ER) left the game with a 4-2 lead after pitching five solid innings for the Otters.  Fergus Falls scored once in the second on an Abel Aho RBI single and added a single run in the third when Cole Knudson doubled home Cole Fronning who had opened the inning with a base hit.  Jack Baker led off the fourth with a double and that was followed by Maanum’s single, putting runners on first and third.  Another Aho single drove home the third run of the game and the other runner scored when the ball was misplayed in left field.  The Tigers got to the Fergus Falls bullpen, sending eight batters to the plate and taking a 5-4 lead with three runs in the sixth.  In the top of the seventh Fronning was hit by a pitch to lead off the innings.  He moved to second on a single by Knudson and both runners advanced on a well-placed bunt by Kotschevar. Nic Pearson proceeded to tie the game with a sacrifice fly that allowed Fronning to score, putting the score at 5-5.  The first two Tech batters in the bottom of the seventh walked and a single to the left field corner by Nick Proshek brought home the game winner.

“A high pitch count didn’t allow Cole to go any further than five innings,” said Pearson.  “We had our highest hit total of the year as we belted out 12 hits.  We made too many mistakes tonight.  We had fielding errors, base running mistakes, and we left too many runners on base.  All of these led to our two losses.

Fergus Falls will play Little Falls at 1:00pm on Friday, followed by the Flyers and Detroit Lakes in the middle of the afternoon and the Otters against the Lakers around 6:00pm.