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Owls Open Baseball Season with Pair of 11-8 Wins Over Ortonville

By Craig Olson, 04/06/24, 11:45PM CDT

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Hancock started the 2024 baseball season with a pair of 11-8 victories over the Ortonville Trojans on Friday night.  The Owls collected 14 hits in the first game, with six different players providing multiple-hits.  In game two, Hancock ran wild on the base paths, recording 16 steals with only one caught stealing.  Gunnar Curfman (4), Brady Luthi (3), Matt Aslagson (3) and Ambrose Rinkenberger (2) led the assault on the bases.

 

In game one, the two teams combined for 12 errors which led to 13 unearned runs.  The Owls were able to win despite committing 7 errors and issuing 9 walks, while allowing 7 unearned runs to cross the plate.  Sebastian Salas drove in 3 runs with a single and a double in three at bats.  Hudson Versteeg also collected a double, going 2-for 5 with a run batted in and two runs scored, along with a pair of steals.  Gunnar Curfman (2-5, RBI, R, SB), Ambrose Rinkenberger (2-5, 2R, 2SB), Donovan Curfman (2-4, RBI, R, 2SB) and Jordan Chunn (2-4, RBI, R) also had multiple hits.

Trailing 4-3 after four innings, Hancock pushed across six runs in the top of the fifth and added two more in the sixth, making a winner Ver Steeg (4IP, 4H, 4R, 0ER, 5BB, 6K).  Gunnar Curfman (3IP, 0H, 4R, 1ER< 4BB, 5K) earned the save.

Each team had 9 hits in game two.  Hancock opened up a 4-2 lead after two innings and pushed the lead to 10-4 after five.  The Owls were able to withstand a 4-run 7th inning rally by Ortonville, completing the sweep.  Matt Aslagson (2-2, 3R, RBI, 2BB), Luthi (2-3, RBI, BB), Ver Steeg (1-2, 2B, 3R, RBI, 2BB), Gunnar Curfman (0-3, 2R, 2BB), Salas (1-3, 2RBI, BB) and Chunn (0-2, 3RBI, BB, HBP).  Luthi (5IP, 8H, 6R, 4ER, 0BB, 8K) was the winning pitcher in relief of Gunnar Curfman (2IP, 1H, 2R, 0ER, 1BB, 4K).