Both teams were strong on the pitcher’s mound Tuesday, but Otter Tail Central defeated Fergus Falls 2-1. Lane Dilly allowed just five hits to Fergus Falls.

Dilly led the Bulldogs to the win as he surrendered 1 run on 5 hits over 7 innings, striking out 7 and walking no one. 

The OTC defense was also tough today as they turned two big double plays, both were 4-6-3, Kale Misegades to Owen Harig and finished at Gavin Pausch. 

Otter Tail Central closed the game off with a strikeout and throw out as Fergus Falls’ Fronning was thrown out by Jayden Harig on a stolen base attempt. 

“This was a great all around game, I told Craig Olson prior to the game that I was just excited to see how our guys would react to any adversity or tough spots.  I also pointed out that I was really excited to see Lane battle on the mound, I was incredibly proud of what I saw from our team all around tonight,” said head coach Ryan Hendrickson. 

Assistant Coach Evan Meece was also pleased and brought up, “This was a great playoff atmosphere, the crowd was awesome and gave us a lot of support tonight.”

OTC was able to score in the third inning as Owen Harig opened the inning with a single and stolen base to second, moved to third by a Tyson Misegades ground out.  Pausch then walked and stole second.  Owen Harig was scored on a pitcher balk before Fergus was able to get out of the inning.  

The other OTC score was in the fourth inning on a Hunter Haugen one out single. Haugen was moved to third base on a Noah Link double and then Haugen was scored by a Kale Misegades Sac Fly to Left Field.  

Hunter Haugen, Noah Link, Owen Harig, and Tyson Misegades all had one hit to lead Otter Tail Central.

Thursday

OTC stayed in it until the end, but Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton pulled away late in a 5-3 victory on Thursday. The game was tied at 2-2 with DGF batting in the top of the fifth when Jordan Summers singled on a 1-2 count, scoring one run.

OTC lost despite out-hitting DGF 6-4. 

“We just got outside of ourselves and gave up a lot of bases in this game.  I loved to see the fight in the guys, we just gave a good ball team too much to work with by giving them extra bases,” said head coach Ryan Hendrickson. 

OTC knotted the game up at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Kale Misegades tripled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring Ayden Olson and Noah Link.  

Gavin Pausch took the loss for OTC. Pausch surrendered 4 runs on 3 hits over 4 2/3 innings, striking out 1. 

“Gavin threw well, he did a great job mixing pitches and timing, and Noah Link came in relief and also helped keep us in striking range,” said Hendrickson.

In the second game of the day, OTC nabbed the lead late in the game in a 19-9 victory over Barnesville on Thursday. The game was tied at 9-9 with OTC batting in the bottom of the fourth when Noah Link drew a walk, scoring one run.

Lane Dilly led OTC to victory by driving in five runs. Dilly went 2-for-4 at the plate. Dilly drove in runs on a groundout in the first, a fielder’s choice in the second, a single in the fourth, and another single in the again in the fourth.

OTC fired up the offense in the first inning, when Dilly grounded out, scoring Tyson Misegades.

Owen Harig was the winning pitcher for OTC as he surrendered no runs on 1 hit over 3 innings in relief work, striking out 4 and walking 1. Link also threw 1 inning in relief out of the bullpen.

Kale Misegades started the game for OTC. The pitcher lasted 1 inning, allowing 3 hits and 6 runs, while striking out 1 and walking 1. 

OTC saw the ball well today, racking up 14 hits in the game. Misegades, Tyson Misegades, Dilly, Link, and Jayden Harig all had multiple hits for OTC. Misegades went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead OTC in hits. OTC stole 10 bases during the game as three players stole more than one. Misegades led the way with 3.

“This was wild, we found ourselves in a 9-1 deficit and things were not looking good for a bit.  We were able to use our bats to claw back in the game by scoring 6 in the second inning to put the score 9-7 Barnesville.  But then we had an offensive explosion putting up 10 in the fourth and put the game away with 2 more in the 5th.  It was absolutely amazing to watch the Bulldogs in action for this game,” said Hendrickson. 

With 19 wins on the season the Bulldogs have now clinched the all time winningest season in OTC history. They are now looking at trying to win the section tournament next week.  Being on the losing side of the bracket the Bulldogs will have to keep fighting as they need to win 2 games Monday to make it on to Tuesday play.