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Waterville downs Blue Earth 12-3

Pirates still advance to Region 6C Tourney as a No. 2 seed

By Kevin Mertens - Staff Writer | Aug 4, 2024

Blue Earth Pirates’ pitcher, Taylor Davids, pitched the final inning in their 12-3 loss to Waterville on July 27. Despite the loss, Blue Earth still qualified for the Region 6C Tournament. Their first game was Aug. 3, against St. Peter.

The Blue Earth Pirates got off to a good start in their game against the Waterville Indians to determine the 13/60 League baseball champion. But, the Indians eventually got their bats going and posted a 12-3 victory over the Pirates.

With the victory, Waterville gets the No. 1-seed from the 13/60 League entering the Region 6C Tournament and Blue Earth is the No. 2-seed. Joining the Indians and Pirates out of the 13/60 League in moving on to the Region 6C Tournament are the Eagle Lake Expos and the Minnesota Lake Royals.

Blue Earth’s opening game of the 13/60 Tournament was scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 3, at 1:30 p.m., in Gaylord, against the No. 3-seed, St. Peter, from the River Valley League. If the Pirates win on Saturday, their next game will be on Sunday, Aug. 4, at 11 a.m., against the winner of the game between Jordan and Minnesota Lake. If the Pirates lose to St. Peter, they would play at 4:30 p.m., on Aug. 4, against the loser of the Jordan/Minnesota Lake game. Those games will also be played in Gaylord.

The double-elimination Region 6C tournament will continue on Saturday, Aug. 10, in Arlington.

Waterville 12,

Blue Earth 3

Back-to-back home runs by Hunter Bleess and Brandyn Olsen in the top of the first inning gave the Blue Earth Pirates an early 2-0 lead in their 13/60 League Championship game against the Waterville Indians.

Blue Earth starting pitcher Kade Hobbs held Waterville scoreless the first two innings of the game. The Indians finally got on the board in the bottom of the third inning with one run to cut the Pirates’ lead to 2-1.

Waterville added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to move ahead of Blue Earth by a 4-2 margin.

The Indians added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend their advantage over the Pirates to 7-2.

Another three-run inning by Waterville, this time in the bottom of the seventh inning made it a 10-2 ballgame in favor of the Indians.

The Pirates added another run to their total in the top of the eighth inning.

Tanner Nawrocki was hit by a pitch and moved to second base on a single by Braydon Barnett. Cody Sukalski reached on a fielder’s choice with Barnett being forced out at second base and Nawrocki advancing to third. A single by Bleess plated Nawrocki with Blue Earth’s third, and final, run of the game.

Waterville added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to complete the scoring and give the Indians a 12-3 triumph over the Pirates.

Waterville outhit Blue Earth by a 13-6 margin. The Pirates committed two errors to none for the Indians.

Hobbs took the loss after pitching three and two thirds innings. He gave up five hits and four unearned runs while walking one batter and striking out three.

Sukalski relieved Hobbs in the fourth inning and pitched three and one third innings. He gave up six runs, all earned, on six hits and one walk. He struck out four batters.

Taylor Davids pitched one inning and was charged with two earned runs on two hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out two.

Bleess was 2-for-4 at the plate with a home run and two runs batted in. Olsen drove in the other run with his first inning homer.