EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Brookings Bandits Post 74 American Legion baseball team won four out of its five games this weekend to earn its best finish at the Gopher Classic in the past 11 years.
…
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, below, or purchase a new subscription.
Please log in to continue |
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Brookings Bandits Post 74 American Legion baseball team won four out of its five games this weekend to earn its best finish at the Gopher Classic in the past 11 years.
The Bandits defeated East Ridge (Minn.) by a score of 11-2 on Friday and defeated Hutchinson (Minn.) 15-11 on Saturday before defeating Haupman O’Brien 11-5 on Sunday afternoon. But Friday’s loss to Moline (Ill.) was the tiebreaker that kept Brookings from advancing to the finals.
The Bandits, who are now 21-16 on the season, will travel to Watertown for a doubleheader at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Bandits did most of their damage with a pair of four-run innings in the second and fifth and cruised to an 11-2 victory in their first game of the tournament on Friday afternoon.
Brookings's first big rally came in a scoreless game in the top of the second inning when Addison Ronning and David Brink singled before Austin Clark walked to load the bases with one out. Tyson Antonen struck out for the second out of the inning before Sam Johnson drove in two runs with a single to put the Bandits on the board.
Clark scored on Johnson’s steal of second base to put Brookings up 3-0 and Tate Helmbolt drove in Johnson with a single to give the Bandits a 4-0 lead.
Owen Schneider and Zach Struck each singled to start another rally in the top of the third, which led to a two-out RBI single by David Brink but East Ridge cut into the lead with a Cody Berg RBI double in the bottom of the third inning.
But the Bandits’ offense kept clicking as Antonen and Johnson led off the top of the fourth with singles. Helmbolt moved both runners over with a sacrifice bunt before Miles drove in a run with a single to make it 6-1.
After a Schneider strikeout for the second out of the inning, Zach Struck drove in two runs with a double and Ronning drove in another run with a single to give the Bandits a 9-0 lead.
David Palmer drove in a run with a single for East Ridge to make it a 9-2 game in the bottom of the fourth inning but Brookings scored two more runs when Struck and Ronning were hit by pitches in the top of the fifth inning.
The run support was plenty for Tate Helmbolt, who pitched a complete game with two earned runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
The Bandits had 12 hits, including multi-hit games from Struck, Ronning, Brink and Johnson.
Struck went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and three RBI. Ronning went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. Brink went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI and Johnson went 2-for-2 with a stolen base, two runs scored and two RBI.
Miles went 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI while Helmbolt and Schneider each went 1-for3. Antonen also went 1-for-2 with two runs scored.
The Bandits ran into a strong performance on the mound and at the plate in their second game, falling to Moline 10-0 on Friday evening.
Moline jumped ahead early with seven runs in the first inning and never looked back adding another run in the second inning and two more runs in the third inning.
Brink started for the Bandits, allowing six earned runs on five walks. Ryan Lockrem came on in relief, allowing four earned runs on eight hits and two walks over four innings.
Johnson recorded the lone hit for the Bandits with a leadoff single in the first inning. Schneider, Ronning and Lockrem each drew a walk.
The Bandits collected 14 hits and outlasted Hutchinson in their lone game on Saturday afternoon.
Brookings scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Helmbolt walked and Miles reached on an error before Helmbolt tagged up and advanced to third base on a flyout by Struck. Miles stole second base in the next at-bat and advanced to third base while Helmbolt scored on a wild pitch. Ronning grounded out to bring in Miles to give the Bandits a 2-0 lead.
The Bandits scored again in the top of the second when Clark drew a one-out walk and scored in Sam Johnson’s RBI single. But Hutchinson responded with a run scoring on an error, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Matthew Weisenberger to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the second.
The Bombers responded with a five-run third inning that began with back-to-back singles by Struck and Ronning. Struck scored on an error to give Brookings the lead before Clark drove in a run with a double, Jon Kahler drove in a run with a double, Helmbolt drew in a run with a single and Struck drove in a run after he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Hutchinson added a run on a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning and cut the lead to 8-6 when Weisenberger scored on a wild pitch and Alex Flores scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the fourth inning. Hutchinson added another run on an RBI single by Weisenberger to make it an 8-7 game in the bottom of the fifth inning but Brookings pulled away with a big sixth inning.
Miles led off the sixth with a walk and Struck singled before Ronning drove in Miles with an RBI single to put Brookings up 9-7. Winston Plummer followed up with a single and Ronning scored on a passed ball before Clark drove in Plummer with an RBI single.
Brookings put the game away in the top of the seventh inning when Struck led off with a single, Ronning walked and Plummer was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Antonen drove in a run on a sacrifice fly before two runs scored on an error to put the Bandits up 15-7.
Hutchinson added four runs on a sacrifice fly by Flores, a bases-loaded walk by Carter Kurth, an RBI single by Hudson Lien and an error but Brookings had enough offense to put the game away.
Schneider started for the Bandits, allowing six runs (three earned) on five hits and four walks with a strikeout over 3.1 innings. Clark earned the save, allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits and seven walks with a strikeout over 3.2 innings.
Helmbolt went 3-for-3 with two walks, a run scored and an RBI. Struck went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. Ronning went 2-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored and two RBI. Clark went 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and two RBI. Johnson went 2-for-4 with a walk, a runs scored and an RBI. Plummer went 1-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. Kahler went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Miles walked, stole a base and scored twice.
David Brink recorded three hits and the Bandits used big second and sixth innings to defeat Hauptman O’Brien 14-5 on Sunday morning.
Hauptman O’Brien scored a run on a groundout in the bottom of the first inning before Brookings responded with seven runs in the top of the second inning. The rally began when Ronning drew a one-out walk and Brink tied the game with an RBI double. Brink stole third base before Antonen walked and Brink stole home to give Brookings a 2-1 lead.
Brookings spent the rest of the second inning expanding its lead. Merritt drew a walk before Clark struck out for the second out of the inning. But Helmbolt walked, Miles drove in a run with a single, Schneider drove in three runs with a double and Kahler stole home to give the Bandits a 7-1 lead.
Haptman O’Brien used a squeeze play by Jace Taggart to add a run in the bottom of the fourth inning but Brink got the run back with an RBI double in the top of the fifth inning. Hauptman O’Brien made things close with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning highlighted by an RBI double by Tanner Miller, but the Bandits put the game away with a six-run sixth inning.
Clark began the sixth with a double before Helmbolt reached on a walk. Miles drove in a run with a single and Schneider drove in another run with a double to give the Bandits a 10-5 lead.
Johnson walked and Ronning drove in a run with a single before Brink singled for his third hit of the game. A double play resulted in the first two outs of the inning but Merritt drove in the final run of the game with an RBI single.
Struck started for Brookings, allowing an earned run on two hits and two walks with a strikeout over 3.1 innings. Johnson finished the game, allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits and three walks over the final 2.2 innings.
The Bandits had 11 hits including Brink’s performance which featured two doubles, two stolen bases, a walk, two runs scored and two RBI.
Miles and Schneider each went 2-for-4. Schneider had two doubles, a run scored and four RBI. Miles had two runs and two RBI.
Johnson went 1-for-1 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored. Merritt went 1-for-2 with two walks, a run scored and two RBI. Clark went 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.
Antonen drew a walk, stole a base and scored a run. Kahler stole a base.
The Bandits scored another win when they defeated Eden Prairie in their second game on Sunday afternoon.
Brookings scored the first run of the game during a rally in the top of the fifth inning. Brink walked to lead off the fifth before stealing second base. The stolen base allowed him to score on Kahler’s single to give the Bandits a 1-0 lead.
The Bandits extended their lead with three runs in the top of the sixth. Helmbolt led off the sixth with a single and Miles walked before Struck drove in both runners with a two-run double to put Brookings up 3-0. After Brink singled, Plummer drove Struck home on a sacrifice fly.
Antonen did his job from there, pitching a complete game shutout allowing four hits and five walks with two strikeouts.
Brookings had five hits in the game with Struck going 2-for-3 with two doubles, a run scored and two RBI. Kahler went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Helmbolt went 1-for-4 with a run scored and Brink went 1-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.
