Tournament to be held in Henning, Battle Lake

The Otter Tail Central 15u baseball team fell behind early and couldn’t come back in a 3-1 loss to Pine River-Backus Red on Thursday. PRBA scored on a groundout by Tucker Mcgee and a sacrifice fly by Carter Lohse in the second inning.

The pitching was strong on both sides. PRBA pitchers struck out five, while OTC sat down 13.

PRBA got on the board in the second inning when Mcgee grounded out, scoring one run.

Dane Anderson took the win for PRBA. The fireballer lasted six innings, allowing eight hits and one run while striking out four.  Jack Courrier threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen. Courrier recorded the last three outs to earn the save.

Lane Dilly took the loss for OTC as he allowed six hits and three runs over six and two-thirds innings, striking out 13 and walking zero.

Soren Floden went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead OTC in hits.

“Lane pitched phenomenally today and it was too bad we couldn’t get him a win,” said coach Evan Meece. “We left far too many runners on base. We’ll re-group and go get one tomorrow.”

The district tournament is being held in Evansville.

Friday

OTC was victorious over PRBA 1, by a score of 4-2 on Friday.

OTC got things started in the first inning, scoring two runs when Soren Floden singled.

Gavin Pausch earned the victory on the pitcher’s mound for OTC. The righthander surrendered two runs on five hits over seven innings, striking out three and walking zero.

Floden led OTC with two hits in four at bats.  Teddy Grabe led OTC 1with two stolen bases, as they ran wild on the base paths with seven stolen bases.

In the second game of the day, OTC defesated PRBA 2 by a score of 13-7. 

OTC secured the victory thanks to seven runs in the third inning.  The OTC offense in the inning was led by Soren Floden, Garrett Kuhn-Rice, Eric Fick, Collin Lukken and Lane Dilly, all sending runners across the plate with RBIs in the inning.

PRBA got things moving in the first inning when they scored a pair of runs on a double. 

OTC  pulled away for good with seven runs in the third inning when Floden doubled on a 2-2 count, scoring one run, Kuhn-Rice drew a walk, scoring one run, Fick singled on a 1-0 count, scoring one run, Lukken singled on a 1-0 count, scoring one run, and Dilly singled on a 1-2 count, scoring two runs.

Kuhn-Rice was credited with the victory for OTC as he allowed eight hits and five runs over five innings, striking out four and walking one.  Owen Harig threw two innings in relief out of the bullpen.

OTC racked up 10 hits on the day with Dilly leading the way with three hits in five at bats.  Lukken led OTC with four stolen bases, as they ran wild on the base paths with 15 stolen bases.

“We played great baseball today, led by our pitching from Gavin, Garrett, and Owen.  Our bats came alive and we put together clutch at bats,” said coach Evan Meece. “We were solid defensively and aggressive on the base paths. We’ll continue moving forward with this momentum and battle back tomorrow.”

Saturday

OTC 15U fell to Fergus Falls 7-6 on Saturday on the final play of the game.  The game was tied 6-6 with Fergus Falls batting in the bottom of the seventh inning when Alex Ellison singled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring one run.

OTC collected nine hits and Fergus Falls had 11 in the high-scoring affair.

OTC opened up scoring in the first inning, scoring three runs on four opening inning hits

Fergus Falls scored three runs in the fifth inning. Carston Fronning, Brock Sherman, and Jack Ratz all drove in runs in the frame.

Teddy Grabe took the loss for OTC as he pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs while striking out one and walking one.

Eric Fick started the game for OTC and lasted five innings, allowing seven hits and four runs while striking out two Levi King started the game for Fergus Falls. King allowed four hits and three runs over two innings, walking zero

Soren Floden led OTC with two hits in three at bats.

“I’m extremely proud of the way we battled in today’s game and in all games the entire weekend. We never went into any inning thinking this will be the last one and fought all the way to the bitter end,” said coach Evan Meece. “After our opening round loss, we could have easily rolled over and gone 0-2, but not for one second did any player stop fighting.  We’ll continue to battle into the state tournament next weekend on our home turf.”

OTC finished in third place in the district and will host the 15u State Babe Ruth tournament from July 22-25 in Henning and Battle Lake. A total of 16 teams from across the state will battle in pool play on Thursday and Friday followed by an eight team single elimination tournament to close out the weekend.