The Pirates T. J. Stallman smoothly fields the ball at second base, at left, and then makes the throw to first for the out, above. To see more photographs of this game, log on to http://cu.faribaultcountyregister.com

Although they suffered their second loss of the season, the Blue Earth Pirates went on to win the Welcome baseball tournament over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Pirates lost a heartbreaker to Fox Lake on Friday, July 4. The final score was 6-5.

The local team had built up a 5-0 lead going into the sixth and final inning. Fox Lake scored all six of their runs at the end to steal the game away.

Blue Earth had three runs in the first inning, then added one in the second and another in the fourth.

Justin Schaible was 2 for 3 to help lead the Pirates in hitting. Ryan Vereide and Cody Hyland were both 2 for 4.

Kane Malo pitched five and a third innings and gave up four runs on nine hits. Lee Hodges took the loss when he came in for two thirds inning and gave up two runs on three hits.

The second game on Friday saw the Blue Earth team defeating Windom by a narrow 4-3 margin.

Windom took an early 3-0 lead after the first inning. Blue Earth came back to tie it up after they got two runs in the fourth and another in the fifth.

A scoreless sixth inning sent the game into a seventh, and the Pirates won it on a sacrifice fly.

Hyland pitched all seven innings, giving up the three runs on five hits. He struck out seven.

Dominic Schultz was a perfect 2 for 2 in the game.

On Saturday the Pirates got revenge on the Fox Lake nine when they played them again and won by a score of 10-6.

The game was tied 4-4 after five innings, but this time it was Blue Earth’s turn to blast away in the sixth and final inning, getting six runs to Fox Lake’s two.

Cody Sukalski was 3 for 4 in the win. Vereide and Robert Perrizo were both 2 for 4. Cody Hyland was 2 for 3.

That win propelled the local team into the finals of the tourney, held later that same day.

There they faced Champlin and won a come-from-behind thriller 5-4.

The Pirates were behind 4-3 going into the sixth inning where they scored two runs and took the win and the championship trophy.

Sukalski, Trent Sonnicksen and Schultz all were 2 for 4 for the Blue Earth team.

T. J. Schmidtke got the win for the Pirates, as he pitched six and two-thirds innings. He gave up all four of the Champlin runs on eight hits.

Schultz came in and got the save with a third of an inning. He struck out a batter for the out.

Pirates blast Wells 13-6

A huge sixth inning propelled the Blue Earth Pirates to a big 13-6 win over the Wells Wildcats last Sunday, July 6, in Wells.

The Pirates scored seven runs in that inning. They were ahead 5-2 at the time.

The game went a full nine innings. Wells got four more runs in the final four innings, and Blue Earth just one more.

Leading batters for the local team were Trent Sonnicksen who went 4 for 6, Cody Sukalski who went 3 for 6, and Justin Schaible who was 3 for 5. The Pirates had a total of 17 hits.

Todd Schmidtke pitched the first three innings, and gave up two runs on six hits. Schaible came in for the next six innings and gave up four runs on four hits. He struck out eight and walked three.

The win put the Pirates season record at 20-2.

Pirates defeat Waterville 11-0

When the Blue Earth Pirates faced the Waterville Indians, the game was virtually over after just the first inning.

The Pirates scored five runs on six hits in that opening inning, and went on to rout the Indians 11-0.

In the game played in Blue Earth on July 2, the Pirates had 14 total hits. Justin Schaible was a perfect 3 for 3 and Todd Rasmussen went 3 for 4 at the plate.

Aaron Wendt, Daniel Woodall and Dominic Schultz all were 2 for 3.

Schultz was also the winning pitcher, going six innings and scattering four hits. He struck out three and walked two. Woodall came in for one inning of relief.

Besides the five runs in the first, the Pirates added five more in the fourth, and one more in the fifth.