After two scoreless innings, the Otters took the lead with two runs in their half of the third inning. Michael Wiederich led off with a solid single to center. He advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jack Baker drove him in with his own single up the middle. Matt Scott laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Baker to second. Abel Aho’s ground out advanced Baker to third base. Cole Fronning drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Bemidji pitcher Cole Tatro executed a successful third to first pickoff play to get Fronning in a rundown. Baker timed his break for home perfectly, and beat the throw to the plate to give the Otters a two run lead.

Unfortunately that lead didn’t hold up for long. Back to back doubles for Bemidji off Fergus starter Brock Kotschevar quickly cut the lead in half. Kotschevar induced a ground out and a pop fly that gave the Otters two outs with a Bemidji runner still on third. A costly error on a ground ball gave Bemidji a run and gave them an extra opportunity.  Another error put runners on first and second. A misplayed pop fly dropped to the turf, and the third and fourth runs of the inning came in to score.

“That third inning was the key,” said Head Coach Kevin Pearson. “We had all the momentum after scoring two runs. To give them three extra outs really hurt. If we make the simple plays, we would have still had a 2-1 lead at the end of three.”

The Otters went quietly in the top of the fourth. Then Bemidji scored four more runs in the bottom of the fourth to put the game away. An RBI double by Isaiah Biehn and a three run home run by Hunter Olson were the big blows of the inning.

The Otters were led at the plate by Wiederich’s two hits. Cole Knudson, Baker, and Ian Stumbo collected one hit each.

Kotschevar pitched four innings on the mound and took the loss. He allowed 8 runs, (three of which were unearned), gave up seven hits, he walked two, and struck out three. Michael Maanum pitched the last two innings. He didn’t allow any runs, gave up one hit, walked one, and struck out one.

“Baseball is a simple game,” said Pearson. “If you throw strikes, make routine plays, and get some timely hits, you are going to compete.  Unfortunately today, we did not make those plays behind Brock, and it cost us.”

The Otters end their season with a 6-16 record. The Otters say goodbye to seniors Cole Fronning, Cole Knudson, Nic Pearson, and Ashwin Stratton.