Pirates win three games
The Blue Earth Pirates swept two games from the Cleveland Condors in a home twin-bill Saturday, June 13.
A solid pitching performance by Cody Sukalski — along with timely hitting — gave the Pirates a 7-2 win over the Condors in the opening game.
Sukalski struck out eight, while walking two in the seven inning complete-game performance.
The righthander’s only trouble came in the fourth inning when the Condors used a walk, double and a single to plate their only two runs of the game.
Sukalski was around the plate all day with 63 of his 93 pitches thrown for strikes.
Cleveland pitcher Keith Strock got out of a one-out bases-loaded first inning jam when he struck out two consecutive Pirate batters to end the inning.
Strock was not so fortunate in the second inning.
With one out, Lee Hodges singled and Trent Sonnicksen drew a walk. The runners moved up a base on an infield out and scored on Todd Rasmussen’s single. Rasmussen took second on a throw to the plate and scored on T.J. Schmidtke’s hit as the Pirates took a 3-0 lead.
Clutch two-out hitting in the fourth inning brought home two more runs.
With one out, T.J. Stallman and Rasmussen connected for back-to-back singles.
Schmidtke flied out to center for the second out before Justin Schaible brought home both runners with a double – giving the Pirates a 5-2 lead.
The Pirates added two more runs in the sixth to close out the scoring. Rasmussen singled, stole second and came home on Schmidtke’s single. Schmidtke later scored on an infield ground out by Sukalski.
Rasmussen led the Pirates at the plate going 4 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Schmidtke was 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Schaible was 1 for 2 with two RBIs.
The final line showed the Condors with two runs on four hits while they committed two errors. The Pirates scored seven runs on nine hits while playing errorless ball.
In the second game, the Pirates crushed the visitors 12-2.
The local team out-hit the Condors 14-2. Leading the way for Blue Earth were T.J. Stallman, Justin Schaible and Mat Willner who all were a perfect 3 for 3 at the plate.
The Pirates got two runs in the first inning, including a home run by Stallman who was the leadoff hitter.
Blue Earth exploded for three more runs in the second and third innings. Their four more runs in the fifth ended the game at that point.
Ryan Vereide was the winning pitcher, pitching 4 1/3 innings. He gave up the two runs in the fifth inning. Kane Malo pitched the final 2/3 inning.
Blue Earth 13, Wells 3
The Pirates hosted the Wells Wildcats on Sunday, June 14, and won 13-3.
Blue Earth got 13 hits, coming from 11 different players.
Todd Rasmussen and Lee Hodges led the hitting, both going 2 for 4.
Rasmussen, Hodges, Dominic Schultz and John Franta all had doubles.
After a scoreless first inning, the Pirates got two runs in the second, third and fourth innings. They added one in the fifth and four more in the seventh.
Kane Malo got the win, pitching five innings and giving up the three runs on eight hits.