The Eagles scored five runs in the third inning of game one to take control.  Cody Barthel (4IP, 3H, 2R, 5K) was the winning pitcher and Jayden Harig (2.2IP, 5H, 7ER, 1K) took the loss for the Bulldogs.  Kale Misegades (2.2IP, 0R, 2H) came on in relief for OTC.

“I am really impressed how resilient our young team is,” said OTC Head Coach Ryan Hendrickson.  We had an eighth-grade batter with Kale throwing the catcher Drew Evavold and both were fearless against a very good Mills team.  We started two eighth-graders, two freshmen and a couple of sophomores and juniors, no seniors, and they really showed competitiveness and resilience.  We will be a very competitive team real quickly!  We have been making some inexperienced mistakes and have too many errors at this point, but these men really scrap, making this a lot of fun.”

Hunter Haugen led the Bulldogs at the plate with two hits in three at bats, while Breck Hensch was 3-for-3 for the Eagles.

Game two saw New York Mills pull away with eight runs in the second inning, breaking a 3-3 tie.  Bode Roberts delivered a bases loaded triple to score 3 runs, Braden Ehnert doubled to drive in a run and Monte Briard contributed 3 runs batted in on a two-run doubles and a RBI single.  Ehnert (4IP, 9K, 1BB, 4H, 3R) was the winning pitcher.

Gavin Pausch (2-3) led the Bulldogs at the plate.  “Pausch has been putting the ball in play so far all season, but really swung well and confidently tonight,” said Coach Hendrickson.  “He hits in the 3 spot and had a good night offensively.  It was great to see him hit the gaps today.”

New York Mills totaled 14 hits in the game with Briard (3-3), Jonah Ruther, Ehnert, Roberts and Bren Salo all collecting multiple hits.  Salo also had 3 of the Eagles six steals in the game.

Hendrickson said, “We really hit the ball better today.  The outcome didn’t go our way, but we really improved offensively.  We had a lot of hard hit outs, hard hit base hits, but most importantly we hit a lot better with runners in scoring position.”