Blue Earth Area’s Nick Barke slides into home with one of the 14 runs the Bucs produced against NRHEG last Tuesday evening.

A rough first inning proved to be too much for the No, 8-seeded Blue Earth Area Buccaneers to overcome and they were defeated by the No. 4-seeded Le Sueur-Henderson Giants in baseball action Thursday, June 1.

Playing on their home field, the Giants scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning.

“Abe (Kokos) was struggling with his control,” BEA head coach Paul Nienaber said. “And, I left him in too long. That’s on me.”

But, Nienaber was proud of the way his team reacted.

“We hit the ball well and ran the bases well,” he commented. “Everybody contributed and we fought our way back into the game.”

Taylor Davids led off the top of the second inning with an infield hit. Colton Hubly hit a sharp line drive down the third-base line to give BEA two baserunners.

Following two outs, Soren Fering walked to load the bases. Caleb Langager singled to drive in Davids and Hubly and cut the Giants’ lead to 6-2.

Trailing 7-2, BEA added three more runs in the top of the sixth inning. A walk to Fering, an infield hit by Parker Meyers and Nick Barke getting hit by a pitch loaded the bases with two outs. A single by Kokos plated Fering and Meyers and a single by Davids drove in the third run of the inning. Unfortunately, it was not enough and the Giants held on for the victory.

BEA played No. 11-seeded Sibley East in an elimination game on Saturday, June 3, at Tink Larson Field in Waseca. Sibley East advanced too when they defeated No. 7-seeded Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 7-0 on Thursday.

The remaining unbeaten teams, Le Sueur-Henderson and Belle Plaine, also played in Waseca on June 3.

New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva, which came into the tournament as the top-seeded team, was knocked out of the playoffs when they were defeated by Waseca 10-4 on Thursday, June 1, for their second loss of the tournament.

BEA 14, NRHEG 0

Blue Earth Area’s Taylor Davids pitched a shutout and his teammates gave him all the run support he needed in the top of the first inning to lead the Bucs to a six-inning, 14-0 upset victory over the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Panthers in the second round of the Section 2A baseball playoffs.

“My confidence was boosted after the first inning,” Davids said after the game. “I felt good the rest of the game.”

The 5 p.m. start of the game was delayed because of a rain shower which came through the New Richland area. When the umpire finally yelled, “Play ball,” the No. 8-seeded Bucs didn’t take long to get on the scoreboard.

Soren Fering led off the game by walking. Caleb Langager grounded out to the pitcher with Fering advancing to second base.

Parker Meyers had a one ball, two strike count when he hit the ball deep to center field for a triple to score Fering.

A single by Nick Barke brought home Meyers with the Bucs’ second run. Abe Kokos reached first base on an error by the shortstop and Davids walked to load the bases.

The No. 1-seeded Panthers made a pitching change, replacing starting pitcher Jackson Chrz with Samuel Olson.

With Colton Hubly at the plate, Olson uncorked a wild pitch to bring home Barke with the Bucs’ third run of the inning.

Hubly walked to fill the bases. Levi Osborn was up next and hit a ball towards the shortstop who made another error which allowed BEA to score their fourth and fifth runs of the inning.

The Panthers got out of the inning but failed to score when they came to bat.

There was a 30-minute delay in the bottom of the second inning due to a lightning strike in the area.

BEA was still leading 5-0 when NRHEG came to bat in the bottom of the third inning.

The Panthers’ first two batters singled before Davids struck out the third batter. A ground out to Parker Meyers at short gave the Bucs the second out and advanced the Panther runners to second and third. Davids got out of the inning without any damage when he picked the runner off of third base.

BEA added four more runs in the top fo the fifth inning. Fering and Meyers sandwiched singles around a walk to Langager to fill the bases with zero outs.

An error by the shortstop on Nick Barke’s grounder scored Fering and left the bases full.

Kokos hit a ball back to the pitcher who threw to the catcher to force out Langager at home with Kokos reaching first base safely.

Davids hit a sacrifice fly to the right fielder to score Meyers with the second run of the inning.

After a walk to Hubly, Osborn doubled to score Barke and Kokos and give the Bucs a 9-0 lead.

Davids continued to roll along and struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth inning.

BEA added five more runs in the top of the sixth inning to boost their lead to 14-0.

Davids opened the bottom of the inning with a strikeout before fielding a grounder and throwing out the runner for the second out. Davids ended the game when he caught the batter looking for his 11th strikeout of the contest.

“Taylor did an amazing job today,” BEA head coach Paul Nienaber said. “He mixed all three of his pitches well. He’s got the tools and he is a smart kid. He also has a good connection with his catcher, Carson Sturtz. They work well together.”

Besides his 11 strikeouts, Davids allowed three hits and did not walk a batter during his shutout victory. BEA was charged with two errors.

The Bucs scored their 14 run on eight hits while the Panthers committed three errors.

Osborn was the star at the plate with three hits, including a double, and six runs batted in. Meyers had two hits including a triple, and drove in one run. Barke drove in two runs on one hit.

Fering, Meyers and Kokos each scored three runs for the Bucs.