Otter Tail Central baseball team to host three games in Henning this week

Otter Tail Central split a doubleheader with Bertha-Hewitt and Parkers Prairie at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud on Tuesday afternoon. The Bulldogs defeated BHV by a score of 7-5 and fell to Parkers Prairie by a score of 2-1. 

“It was nice to be outside playing this great sport,” said head coach Ryan Hendrickson. “I thought we played well. We had some of the ‘normal’ struggles that all teams have at this point but overall I saw some really good things out of our team today.  I saw great energy and excitement, good communication and drive.  These kids have worked really hard the past couple years to be where they are at, so that helped us be more prepared for our first couple games.” 

Hendrickson said the Bulldogs pitched well on Tuesday, especially considering it was the first time OTC took to the field this year. 

“I thought our pitching was really good; Lane Dilly and Gavin Pausch gave us two really great starts giving up 0 Runs on 5 hits and only 3 walks, that’s pretty incredible but shows that they took their indoor bullpens seriously and got after it,” said Hendrickson. “Tyson Misegades rarned the win in the Bertha game, struggled with control for one inning, but then buckled down and also had a great performance. Then our last pitcher, Kaleb Hammes really stepped up and kept Parkers to 1 run. He got the loss, but that doesn’t show how well he threw.  Kaleb has great stuff and will contribute a lot, as a freshman.” 

In their game against the Raiders, OTC took the lead late in the game in a 7-5 victory over Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale. The game was tied at 5-5 with OTC batting in the top of the ninth inning when Owen Buehler singled on a 0-2 count, scoring two runs.

Despite falling down by five runs in the fifth inning, BHV tried to fight back. BHV scored five runs in the failed comeback on a sacrifice fly by Kole Weishalla, a, a walk by Cameron Mitchell, and a single by Connor Schmitz.

OTC got things started in the second inning when Weishalla induced Kale Misegades to hit into a fielder’s choice, but one run scored.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, BHV tied things up at 5-5. Schmitz singled on a 1-1 count, scoring two runs.

Misegades was the winning pitcher for OTC as he went four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and striking out five.

Dilly started the game for OTC as he went five innings, allowing zero runs on three hits and striking out eight Weishalla started the game for Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale. The hurler lasted three innings, allowing four hits and four runs while striking out eight and walking one.

Individual game results for OTC’s game against Parkers Prairie was not available at the time of press. 

Thursday

Otter Tail Central watched the game slip away early and couldn’t recover in a 12-2 loss to Wadena-Deer Creek on Thursday. 

WDC fired up the offense in the first inning. Connor Davis hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring two runs.

The Wolverines scored five runs in the sixth inning as Brandon Wheeler, Chad Dickey, and Gunner Olson, all knocked in runs in the inning.

Owen Buehler took the loss for OTC as he allowed four hits and five runs over three innings, striking out one. Owen Harig went on the bump in relief throwing 2 1/3 innings giving up 4H 2BB and 3K 3ER and Hunter Haugen finished the game on the mound for the Bulldogs giving up 3R on 1H but had 4 hit batsmen. 

Jayden Harig and Owen Harig had one hit to lead OTC

“Give credit to Wadena, they are a very good baseball team. Their lineup is full of tough outs and when they are on the bases they are very dangerous.  A huge difference in the game is that we struck out 13 times and had 4 errors compared to Wadena struck out 1 time, took 9 free passes and did not commit an error,” said head coach Ryan Hendrickson. “We finished this week going 1-2, could have easily been 2-1 but we just have to be a little bit cleaner with our play.”